Adventures of the Sand Siblings
by Celtic Water Spirit
Summary: One-shots/drabbles of Gaara, Kankuro and Temari. After the first Chunin exams, they will go through personal journeys, new missions and trials, and all while Gaara follows the path to earning the village's trust and respect and finally becoming Kazekage.
1. Episode 1: Getting Over Angst

_The first part of Sand Sibs Adventures! _

_Follow Gaara and his siblings on their own adventures during the filler arcs and time skip of the series. After the first Chuunin exams, they will go through personal journeys, new missions and trails, and all while Gaara follows the path to earning the village's trust and respect and finally becoming Kazekage._

_This first episode takes place right after the chunin exams. Gaara gets over the whole "love only myself" thing, and Kankuro and Temari are right there supporting him because they're good older siblings._

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Episode 1: Getting Over Angst**

They failed their mission, even though it was a fraudulent one anyway. They failed the Chunin Exam, but they could care less. Being Genin or Chunin did not matter to them. They were the sand siblings.

Temari and Kankuro had took Gaara and fled Konoha after the battles. They were all injured so they found a place to rest for a while. Gaara had not said a word since they left. 'I'm sorry,' was the last thing he said. Since then he just looked at the ground while in deep thought. If Temari and Kankuro didn't know better, they would have thought he went into a depression. They could tell that something had changed in him.

"H-hey Gaara," Temari said as she approached him carefully, there was still a chance that he could snap again. He was sitting up against a tree and made no move. "I'm going to check that wound on your shoulder, is that okay?"

He said nothing, but shifted his position slightly as she kneeled down next to him with some gauze ready to rap it up. Kankuro leaned over Temari's shoulder to see what she was doing, "Geez, that Sasuke's Chidori sure ripped him up, is that even going to heal right?" he asked as Temari pulled away the sleeve of his shirt and wiped away some of the blood.

Gaara's blood, now that's something she thought she would never see. "It should be fine." She finished rapping up his shoulder and pulled away. She was no medic, but that would have to do.

"Hey what about his forehead?" Kankuro asked, "Shouldn't you wrap that too? It might get infected once we hit the desert and sand and dirt gets in it."

Temari nodded and took some more gauze and rapped it around his head a couple times to cover the spot where Naruto had slammed his own head into Gaara's. "Okay, there that should be good, how are you feeling?" she asked.

Gaara remained silent, stood up, and walked west. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other. It seemed he wanted to go home. They had to admit, they were worried about him. They could see what happened to him physically, that alone had never happened to him and was a new experience, but there was also whatever was happening mentally… and with the sand demon inside him, Shukaku. They were unaware that Shukaku was staying silent as well.

They reached the Sand village after the long walk there. They did not bother to report in just yet. Who would they report to anyway? The Kazekage… their father was dead. They went straight home and parted into their bedrooms in silence.

Kankuro's room was next to Temari's and through the wall he could hear her sniff a few times as she cried softly, it didn't last long, but it was still hard on him to know how she felt.

The next day they all went to the hospital to get checked out and reported to the council. Gaara got new bandages and then they left the medical center to go to the council meeting room.

"Gaara was defeated?" The Jonin had questioned in disbelief, barely believing his eyes and ears, "By who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara had not said a word until then and Temari and Kankuro exchanged a quick glance.

"I see…" The elder stood up, "That is all, you three can go home now, there will not be any missions for a while… And I think it would be good if you had extra time to mourn your father's death," he explained.

"Every well," Temari stood up, "Let's go." The three left to return home. As soon as they stepped outside, Gaara disappeared in his sand, it was the best way to avoid people. On the way back, people stopped the two to pay their respects or make other comments concerning the Kazekage's passing. Temari and Kankuro did their best to accept their gestures with simple a 'thank you' and a reassuring smile. The entire village seemed lost now. It will take some time to recover from everything that had happened.

Once they got home they checked to see if Gaara was there. He was meditating in his room, which meant that they had to be extra quiet to not disturb what little rest he is capable of getting.

Gaara went downstairs hours later, it was late at night by then so he thought his brother and sister would have gone to bed. Instead he found them sitting in the living room. He was curious as to what they were doing so he stepped farther into the room. They noticed his presence and motioned for him to join them. Gaara was surprised by this but excepted the invite due to that curiosity.

"What is this?" Gaara asked seeing a bunch of books around them and on the floor.

"They're our pictures," Temari said, "Here look, it's Mom," she smiled and handed him an album. He took it cautiously, as if it might blow up in his face, but in his experience, it just might have.

He looked through it and was confused when he saw a young girl, then a teenager, then he realized it was their mother's past when he finally recognized the later pictures. He came to the very last picture in the book when he realized that his siblings were sitting next to him, looking over his shoulder.

"This is our only family picture with all of us," Temari said.

Kankuro pointed to each person in the picture, "That's Dad, Uncle, Mom, Temari, me, and then you," he pointed to Karura's pregnant belly.

Gaara's head titled to the side, revealing interest. "No demon…" he muttered.

"Yeah, Dad wasn't quite a complete douche yet," Kankuro chuckled.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Just because," Temari smiled, "But I think this is a little more interesting," she said teasingly.

Kankuro jumped up and almost tackled her, "No, not those!"

"That's right, baby pictures!" Temari confirmed, "What's the matter Kankuro, are you embarrassed?" she taunted as she played keep away.

Watching his sibling's antics, Gaara felt a small smile trying to creep up to his face so he disappeared in his sand and appeared in his room again.

'**What's wrong with you?'** Shukaku finally spoke after staying silent since the battle in Konoha. The demon's pride had took a hard blow losing to such a person, a kid at that. Shukaku was aware that he lost Gaara as willing medium, his influence on the red-head was greatly diminished. Even though the demon was inside Gaara, Shukaku did not understand why losing that one battle against some other demon-boy could change things so much.

'_Me? What's wrong with you? You lost too,'_ Gaara retorted. He really did not feel like dealing with Shukaku right now, just when he was feeling a trace of normality. Shukaku snarled angrily but retreated without a fuss. Gaara clutched his head with one hand because of the headache that was made itself known. Deciding that he needed some air, he appeared on the roof of their home.

"This is the life, ain't it?" Kankuro said suddenly, as he hopped onto the roof as well. "Can I sit here?" he asked and Gaara made no move to stop him so he sat down and leaned back to watch the night sky.

They sat there in silence for what seemed like hours before Gaara thought that he had waited long enough. "What are you doing here?" he asked the older boy.

"I think the question is, what are YOU doing here?" Kankuro said pointing at him without looking but he was also smiling.

"I asked first," Gaara said irritably.

"I'm here do find out why you are here," Kankuro said simply. Gaara was silent, keeping his temper in check. "Well? Don't you have an answer or do you not even know?"

"Of course I know."

"Then tell me, unless you're afraid."

"I am not afraid."

"Oh that's right, you aren't scared of anything, you're Gaara of the Desert after all," Kankuro said still watching the sky.

Gaara gritted his teeth, "You're being annoying Kankuro, I want to be alone."

"I know, so why haven't you threatened to kill me yet?"

Gaara froze. Kankuro was right, he hadn't yet, but why? "Because," Gaara retorted.

"Because…" Kankuro urged him to continue, this time he sat up again and looked straight at him.

He paused, he thought he knew the answer but was that really it? "Because… I've…"

"Because you've changed," Kankuro finished and confirmed at the same time. "I can tell, Temari too. Who knew someone finally beating you would cause that."

Gaara had calmed down again and leaned back to look at the sky, "You're right," he admitted.

"Gotta be right once in a while," Kankuro chuckled.

There was a quiet thump behind them and they both looked to see Temari joining them. "Hey, what's going on?" she asked in her usual confident manner.

Kankuro groaned, "I still can't believe I lost to that bug dude!"

Temari groaned as well, "At least that guy looked like he could be strong, I lost to the laziest shinobi on the planet!"

"Heh," Gaara started, "I lost to the number one loudest, most unpredictable, hyperactive, knuckle headed ninja…" he dropped his head, his siblings laughed slightly before they dropped their heads as well.

"It's official," Kankuro started, "We are now the band of losers…"

"We've been slacking too much!" Temari declared, "We need to train, we can't let those leaf losers show us up!"

"Yeah!" Kankuro agreed. They both looked to Gaara, who finally nodded in his own agreement.

"I will get stronger, much stronger, and all by using my own strength," Gaara said.

"I'm sure you will," Kankuro nodded, "We all will."

"Hey Gaara," Temari started, "Remember that if you ever need help, even because of Shukaku, tell us, or even Baki, we all want to make things better too."

"Why?"

Kankuro snorted, "We aren't going to hold anything against you if you make the effort you say you will. "

"And besides," Temari said, "You're our little brother."

Gaara looked at them, his two older siblings, and he realized that they were smiling… and at him. Finally, Gaara nodded, "Of course," he said while silently promising that he would learn to suppress the demon within him, so he can rely on his own strength. He promised that he would somehow repent for his sins.

His battle with the blonde-haired ninja, Naruto Uzumaki, had changed his perceptive. He learned that fighting for himself would not make him any stronger, if he fights for what he cares about he would become much stronger and make up for the things he had done. He knew that even starting now, at such a young age, that he will have a ways to go. Such a goal is going to take all his attention and determination.

He was going to put his power to use, so that someday, there would never be another person like him, a lonely suffering soul that might never find a glimmer of hope. This was a new beginning and he was not going to waste it. Glancing over at his siblings one more time then looking over the entire village, he knew exactly what he was going to fight for.

* * *

_I hope you found this interesting and that you will continue to read as more humor, bromance, and skill develops. Reviews would be very helpful on any chapter. Thanks for reading.  
_


	2. Special Episode: Halloween

Let's take a break with the Sand Siblings Halloween!

This may or may not be intertwined with the rest of the story, but it is just for fun.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Halloween Special **

"Aren't we too old to trick-or-treat?" Gaara asked from his position on the living room couch.

Kankuro was sitting on the floor in front of him playing a video game, "Says the youngest," Kankuro snorted, "But I know that scaring people is the best part of trick-or-treating!"

Temari threw a piece of candy at Kankuro's head, "This might be the last year we can do this and it's the only time Gaara gets to go out and people wont even notice that it's him," she stated before throwing another piece of candy at Gaara's head, "And you! I wasn't suggesting trick-or-treating, I was about to say that since we already bought plenty of candy, that we could go to the Halloween party instead."

Gaara said nothing as he found the candy she threw at him and began eating it. Kankuro paused his game and turned to her with a grin, "I guess I'd be up for that, are your friends going be there?" he said in a perverted way, not even trying to hide his thoughts.

"Well there were planning on going, but the moment I tell them that you are too they'll probably run all the way to Konoha to find another party that would be far enough away from you," Temari retorted.

"Oh, Konoha huh? I guess that just means we'll just have to go there too this year so I get see twice as many girls," Kankuro snickered.

"Gosh you're such a creep!" Temari shouted at him.

"Well you're a cow, I bet you can't get any guy to look at you!" Kankuro shouted back.

"I'm not a cow! I could get any guy I wanted!"

"Oh so you're saying you're a slut now?" Kankuro taunted while Gaara reached for the candy bowl.

"I am NOT a slut!" she nearly screamed.

"But what about your costume?" Gaara asked. He just remembered it was genie costume, one with lots of see-through fabrics.

"Urk, uh," Temari stuttered, "That is not a sluty costume Gaara."

"No I think he's right," Kankuro nodded.

"Please, a genie was not nearly as bad as the maid, nurse, or the bunny costumes at the mall."

"Ooo, is that what Ami, Haruka, and Shinobu got?" Kankuro went into perv-mode again so Temari took his game controller and bashed in him in the head with it.

"Ow!"

"Stay away from my friends!"

"Psh, whatever…" Kankuro grumbled as he rubbed his head and checked to see if his controller was broken. "So Gaara, are you interested is going to a party tomorrow?"

"I suppose it's worth a try," he responded.

"It's a costume party so we need to find you a costume," Kankuro said before standing up and putting the controller away and turning off the game system. "I'm taking Gaara to the mall, Temari, you coming?"

"I'll probably meet you guys there later, I'm heading to Haruka's first, see you later and try not be such a creepy perv if you see any of my friends," Temari said before leaving.

Gaara stood up and was about to head for the door before Kankuro stopped him, "Wait you have to get dressed first!"

Gaara looked back at him confused, "But I am dressed," he stated.

"Yeah, ninja gear, gourd, and all," Kankuro started as if he was stupid, "We are going to a public place and you're the one that is trying to be normal so try dressing normal."

"Dress normal how? You already told me these clothes were fine before," Gaara said gesturing his new crimson outfit.

"Just come on," Kankuro told him as he started up the stairs. When Gaara caught up, he found Kankuro in his room rummaging through his closet. "Here you can have this, it should fit you," he said tossing him a shirt, "Then put on a pair of your black pants with a kunai, and leave the belt and sash behind."

"Why are you giving me a shirt?"

"It's cool yet grown up, and I only ever wore it once before it got to small for me so you can have it, call it a hand-me-down if you want, but hurry up and get dressed."

Gaara looked at the shirt, it was a dark red, short-sleeved button-down. He nodded showing his approval before going to his room to change like his brother told him to. Dressed in a matter of minutes he stepped out of his room at the same time as Kankuro. Kankuro was wearing black baggy jeans and a black shirt that said "I'm with stupid" and had arrows pointing in all directions. Gaara nearly rolls his eyes every time he sees it. "So why can't I take my sand?"

"Do you want people to stare at you?" Kankuro asked as he went to the stairs.

"People will stare at me anyway."

"Well today you're going to be as normal as possible so people can suck it if they have a problem with you," Kankuro said going out the door, Gaara had to run to catch up.

By the time they got to the mall, not many people were paying any attention to him, which was strange to him, but it was a nice change.

"Oh hey, Gaara," Kankuro started as he put a crown on Gaara's head, "You should go as a king since you're the Kazekage-to-be."

"And you can go as a fairy because, well, you know," Gaara smirked.

Kankuro laughed at first before glaring, "Hey, I am NOT gay!" He then heard a small group of girls giggle nearby, he looked and at them confirming that they were laughing at him, "Now look at what you did…" he grumbled at his younger brother who was now taking off the crown and putting it back.

The two brothers had looked around for a little while longer before they both found something. Kankuro got a detective costume since Gaara told him that dressing up as Pinocchio the boy puppet would be wrong on too many levels. When searching for his costume, Gaara tried to find something simple and traditional, at first he thought of a ghost but then Kankuro suggested a vampire and he quickly found and cape and other items that went into a traditional Dracula costume.

After they finished with that, Kankuro dragged Gaara to the food court saying that they had to go 'hunting'. Gaara was confused by this and originally thought it was a joke based on the content of their purchases from the Halloween costume shop. But as he followed the older boy, he quickly observed that his brother had a specific place in mind. There were two girls sitting at a table and Gaara recognized them, they were Temari's friends, Shinobu and Ami.

They saw Kankuro coming towards them and waved so he waved back before closing the distance to their table. "Hey ladies, are you waiting for Temari and Haruka?" Kankuro asked as he leaned on the table.

Shinobu nodded, "They should be here soon." Shinobu was a really shy girl with short black hair and black eyes, but from what Gaara knew, she was actually a very promising medical ninja in training.

Ami was almost the opposite of Shinobu. She had really long brown hair and always wore thick black make-up, her clothes were always black and royal purple, and she had many pricings in her ears. Gaara did not know much about her skills as a fighter other than she mostly did undercover missions. "What are you here for?" she asked not giving more than a sidelong glance.

"I was helping him pick out a costume for the party tomorrow," Kankuro said sitting down in one of the empty chairs. "I hear you guys are going?"

Ami sighed as she continued to brood in her own thoughts, "I am, not that anyone cares."

Shinobu nodded and fiddled with her skirt, "Are you both going too?" Shinobu asked looking at Gaara, he only nodded. "What's your costume?" she asked seeing the bag sitting next to Kankuro.

"I'm a detective!" Kankuro grinned before smoking a pipe that blew steam instead to make it look like the user was actually smoking.

Gaara sighed, "Kankuro, put that away, you're being an idiot."

Ami sat up, "Yes finally, thank you for saying that!" Then she grabbed the pipe and threw it into Kankuro's shopping bag while Shinobu laughed.

Kankuro was about to say something when Temari and Haruka called to them. The girls greeting each other as Kankuro went into dream land seeing Haruka and Gaara just observed their behaviors. Haruka even took a moment to greet Gaara who nodded in acknowledgment. She had long strawberry-blonde hair and was really nice, she also mostly worked in the training hall and technician labs since she was always off active duty from injury after injury.

Gaara nudged his brother who turned to him irritability, "What?" Kankuro asked.

"You were staring and I want to go home."

"Fine…" Kankuro sighed as he turned back to the others, "Well we have to go, see you ladies later, don't wait up Temari," Kankuro said before leaving.

Once they reached their house, Kankuro plopped down on the couch, "Ah… don't you just hate the malls, there's so much walking involved!"

"We are ninja, we can handle it," Gaara said slightly confused.

"Yeah, I know," Kankuro said throwing his shoes in the middle of the floor. "By the way, what do you think you'll do at the party tomorrow?"

"Watch people," Gaara said simply. He knew that both Kankuro and Temari would be hanging out with their friends so why not observe.

"You know… that's really creepy…"

"You're creepy."

"Psycho."

"Dumbass."

"Why you…" Kankuro gritted his teeth before remembering what he was going to do. "Wait, I know, since this is a costume party, you should use it as a social experiment, just go around and try talking to people, ask a girl to dance or something."

"What do I say?"

"You're smart you can figure it out," Kankuro said, "Really, I want you to develop your own social life and personality, not mine." Gaara nodded once before going to his room and taking his costume with him. He really hoped he was not going to regret agreeing to this.

The rest of the evening and then the next morning went by relatively quickly. Temari told them to dress up in the mid afternoon so they would be ready for the early trick-or-treaters and then they could leave for the party.

"So Gaara, wanna help me solve a mystery?" Kankuro said as he walked in wearing his detective costume.

Gaara was standing by the window wearing the vampire costume, "I suppose, there's nothing else to do today."

Temari stepped in wearing a blue genie costume. Her hair was glittery and she had little blue jewels all over her her face. "Well, you two could help pass out candy to the little kids that come to the door," she suggested, "Oh and if you do anything that pisses them off and they TP or egg our house, it'll be your head on the chopping block and you also have to clean it up," she warned before taking the phone with her upstairs.

Gaara and Kankuro looked at each other then to the front door before Kankuro turned to Gaara, "You know, she means that I'll have to be the one to clean up so while I'm gone, don't screw up if any trick-or-treaters show up, got that twerp?"

Gaara glared, eventually but nodded. As soon as Kankuro reached the top of the stairs, the doorbell rang and Kankuro called to Gaara to answer it. Gaara sighed, but did it. He opened the door and four little kids all yelled "Trick-or-Treat!" There was a blue M&M, princess, jonin, and ghost costumed 3-year-olds in front of him. Without saying anything he threw a handful of candy into each of the little buckets, and then closed the door again while ignoring the very out of character comment from Shukaku that the blue M&M costume was the best. Gaara repeated this process only three more times before Kankuro came back and took over.

A few hours later at about seven in the evening, it was time to leave for the party so they turned out the lights, locked the door, and Kankuro even put a sign on the door that said, "Not home. Out partying. Go to next house."

It was a teen Halloween costume party set up at an old house for a haunted house theme. There were games where people would win a verity of small prizes like an eating contest and then a throwing dart game. Another larger prize included winning a costume contest which none of the sibling were planning on entering since it included making your costume, not buying it. Then winning the Halloween mystery game where there were clues placed around the 'haunted' house and whoever solved the mystery of who was supposedly haunting the place also got a prize.

"Hey Gaara we should enter that!" Kankuro exclaimed seeing the mystery game rules.

"Why?"

"Because you're smart and I'm a detective, it's a perfect match!"

"Just because you're dressed up as a detective doesn't make you a real one," Gaara stated plainly.

Temari shook her head at her brothers, "Well, I'm going to go find my friends…" she said before walking away. Gaara and Kankuro were still in the entryway and as Kankuro continued to talk about solving the mystery, Gaara looked around.

It was dark and dimly lit inside the haunted house. In the dancing area was strobe lights and music playing. In another room guests could get snacks and refreshments. There were lots of other teens already hanging out and doing various things while more were still arriving.

"Hey Gaara, I bet you can't win the dart game," Kankuro challenged. Gaara looked at him as if he was crazy, of course a ninja of his superior skills could win such a simple game. Looking at the target, he noted that it was not even moving to make it more difficult. Too easy. Nonetheless, Gaara excepted the challenge and got twelve darts to throw. Taking three in each hand he threw six at once, all hitting the target. Once those six were removed, he did the same thing and got a prize which was a bag of candy and a toy water gun which he gave to Kankuro who decided he wanted to play with it. Right afterwards Kankuro saw Haruka, the strawberry-blond, wearing a sultry pink bunny costume. Being the hormone driven teen that he is, Kankuro decided he would go talk to her.

Meanwhile Gaara took the time to get a chocolate chip cookie from the snack table and sit down. Soon he noticed a girl in a French maid costume sit down next to him before realizing it was Temari's friend Shinobu, the shy one with short dark hair. He had never seen so much of her cleavage before and he briefly wondered why the girls were dressing that way until she spoke to him.

"Hello," she started. He nodded and there was a long pause before she spoke again, "Do you know where Temari is?" she asked.

"No."

"Oh, um, okay," she said and then they continued to sit there and watch people.

Soon Kankuro came up to them, "Gaara I think I solved the mystery game!"

"What do-?"

"Come on!" Kankuro demanded as he took Gaara with him. They went up a flight of stairs and Kankuro had a magnifying glass as he led Gaara into a room. "Look, it's a kage hat…" he said pointing to a plastic Kazekage hat sitting on a table.

"Okay…"

"And look," Kankuro said pointing up at the ceiling so Gaara looked, "It's the number two painted in blood…"

"That's isn't blood Kankuro, it's just paint," Gaara said, it will be years before he forgets the smell of blood.

"Whatever… Anyway, I think those are the clues that the second Kazekage is the haunter."

"Okay…"

"What, you don't think so?"

"Seems correct to me, are you going to collect your prize?"

"You bet, I'll go turn in my answer now," he then waved and left again. Moments later Gaara turned to leave too. As he past a couple people, he heard them make comments as they noticed him.

"Hey isn't that…?" One started.

"Yeah, I think so, why would someone like him be here?" The other said.

"I heard that on Halloween he turns into a real monster and terrorizes the village," the first one added.

"My dad told me that he's way too dangerous to be around, should we leave the party if he doesn't leave?" The second one asked the first who agreed.

Gaara was expecting to be noticed eventually and it is not as if he thought their reactions would be any different then they usually were. But now that it had happened, he decided it was time for him to leave before anything could happen.

Meanwhile, Temari was hanging out with her friend Ami, the dark sarcastic one who was wearing a pink nurse costume. At the moment they were both checking out the other teen guys and deciding if any were hot. Then Shinobu found them.

"I think I just saw your brother leave, Temari," she informed shyly.

"Which one?" Temari asked, though she already had a pretty good idea. "Was it Gaara?" she asked and Shinobu nodded. "Hold on, I should make sure he didn't leave because somebody was asking for an ass-kicking." With that, she marched out the door and sped down the street in the direction of their house. It did not help that there were at least three other red-haired vampires walking around that all turned out to not be Gaara. She finally found him when she stepped through the front door of their house. "Gaara, what do you think you're doing!"

Gaara looked up from his place at the kitchen counter still wearing the vampire outfit, "I'm about to make a sandwich," he explained.

"Why did you leave? Was Shukaku causing too many problems?"

"No, he's being quiet today."

"So did someone provoke you?" she finally asked.

"No."

Temari gritted her teeth because of her antisocial, messed-up psycho of a little brother. She knew it had to be something, but if he was going to play this game then fine, "Well, if it's nothing then, you're coming back with me," she said before gabbing the collar of his cape and dragging him out the door. He did not protest or try to get away, mainly because he did not know how without hurting or upsetting her even farther. People stopped and looked at them as she pulled him by the collar, the ones that realized that it was indeed Gaara and Temari were quite dumbfounded. "Okay look," Temari started once they reached the front of the haunted house, "I'm am going to have you dance with Shinobu since she's closest to your height and she's too shy to ask anyone else to dance and she's been dying to get out on the dance floor with someone, so you're going to be the nice guy and dance with her, okay?"

Gaara did not say or do anything, he was too confused and Shukaku was rolling over from laughter inside his head.

"Good, now let's go," she finished and continued to drag him inside. Kankuro was trying to flirt with Haruka when he saw them so he instantly started to point and laugh. Temari hit Kankuro in the head as she walked by. "Hey guys, I found Gaara!" Temari said in a happy tone, "So Shinobu are you still wanting to dance with someone, I'm sure Gaara wouldn't mind, and I don't think he's tried dancing before so why don't you go with him?" she urged.

"Really? Thank you Gaara, I love dancing!" Shinobu smiled before she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the dance area. He only did very simple and reserved movements, but Shinobu seemed glad anyway so it did not turn out as bad as Gaara thought it might.

Kankuro turned to Haruka again, "Do you want to dance?" he asked.

"I'd love to dance," Haruka said but remained where she was.

"With me?" Kankuro added hopefully.

"Oh sure," she smiled and went with him while Temari and Ami went back to flirting with a couple older teen guys.

The rest of the evening went by pretty quickly and Gaara had spent the rest of the time there dancing with Shinobu and even a couple other girls because they decided he was a good dancer. When he asked them what they meant by that, they would point to Kankuro who was dancing around crazily. Gaara was embarrassed to be related to him. Also, no one else was caught making comments about him. At the end of the party, it turned out that Kankuro won the mystery game and won a gift card. Apparently no one else saw the number two painted on the ceiling.

When the three siblings got home they parked themselves in the living room, ate more candy, and asked each other how it went, well Temari and Kankuro asked Gaara how things went. They waited eagerly for an answer as he finished his piece of candy.

"It was fine," was all he said before going to his room to get out of the costume. Temari and Kankuro gave each other a thumbs up before turning back into bickering siblings. Gaara noticed the red shirt Kankuro gave him sitting on top of his laundry, and he reflected on how things have changed for him in the last several months. He knew he was still lonely, but not like before, and he wondered what other kind of changes were going to take place in his future. Also, what other parties could he go to?


	3. Special Episode: Christmas

_Another extra episode!_

_Let's jump ahead to when Gaara is 14, and it's the holiday season. I'm not sure what kind of holiday they would celebrate in the Narutoverse, but I know Christmas is also celebrated in Japan. Again this is just for fun, and may or may not be intertwined with the Adventures story._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Christmas Special **

Even though it is never white and snowy at Christmas time in the Sand village, it does not stop the festivities and holiday spirit. Being chilly outside and the wind at only a breeze, many people were out and about in the decorated shopping district and malls to find the right gifts for their friends and family. Temari was apart of that crowd as she shopped with her girlfriends Ami, Haruka, and Shinobu for gifts for their families. The oldest sand sibling wanted to find the perfect gifts for her brothers. Even though they got on her nerves sometimes, she still wanted to show them that she cares and to repay them for always have her back in any situation.

Meanwhile, at the trio's home, Kankuro was sleeping in since he did not have to train today. He asked Gaara the night before to get him up before noon, but Gaara already tried twice. The first time was at about eight in the morning but Kankuro yelled at him through the door saying that was too early, so Gaara tried again a couple hours later right before Temari left, but it seems that his brother simply went back to sleep now that it was noon.

"This time, I'm using sand," Gaara decided as he headed up the stairs.

Ready with the sand, he first knocked on the door. "I'm up!" Kankuro shouted through the door before coming through it.

"Just so you know, you got lucky this time," Gaara warned, he did not like having to play human alarm clock just because he does not sleep himself.

"Right," Kankuro shrugged even though it was obvious he just got out of bed with his smeared make-up, messier hair, and was still in his underwear and undershirt.

Gaara went back to his place on the couch and pulled a notebook back into his lap with a pen ready to add to it. It was a list of possible things to get people for Christmas. He was not having much luck though and there was only a list of people so far. Temari, Kankuro, Baki, and Matsuri as well as an "Other" section because he was informed to have a few extra smaller things to exchange just in case. He did not think he would need to, but planned to do so anyway.

The day before he asked Matsuri what she would want, but she told him to surprise her, so that did not help him in his dilemma. She also claimed to already have his gift ready. After also asking her what kinds of things she thought his sister might like, she offered to go shopping with him to help because she was not sure either.

Soon Kankuro came into the living room and looked over Gaara's shoulder to see what he was writing. "Need ideas huh?" He started before sitting down in a recliner, "Write fast, I want an adjustable wrench, a set of those mini screw drivers for those tiny screws in Black Ant, the movies Ninja Assassin and Twilight…"

"Isn't that a girl's movie?"

"Shut up, it has fight scenes too!" He retorted before continuing, "Anyway, I also want the game Ichikuru, some ninja supplies are always good…" Kankuro continued listing things until there was a knock at the door so Gaara got up to answer it because he knew who it was.

He opened the door to find Matsuri standing there, "Konnichiwa Gaara-sensei, are you ready for that last minute shopping?" Matsuri asked cheerfully. Being dressed for the season she was wearing a red sweater, white skirt, and long green shocks, with a white scarf around her neck.

He nodded, "I'll be right back, you may wait inside," he told her before turning back to get his shoes and wallet. Kankuro leaned back in his chair so he could see into the entryway from the living room as Gaara returned to it to get his scarf before leaving with her.

"Finally, I get a chance to wrap their presents," Kankuro grinned, he had been waiting all week to have the house to himself and get that done before Christmas.

As Gaara and Matsuri walked through the neighborhood, the neighbors outside waved and gave a friendly hello that he acknowledged. Only a few doors down, an pregnant woman sweeping her porch called about to them.

"Konnichiwa Gaara-kun, Matsuri-chan," she greeted when the two got closer.

"Konnichiwa Asuka-san," they both greeted. Asuka was a very kind woman that would bring cookies to him and his siblings from time to time. She was petite and kept her long brown hair tied back with either a small ribbon or a bandana while she worked around the house.

"How are you coming along?" Matsuri asked.

"I'm pretty good, due in about month," she smiled.

"Do you know what it is yet?" Matsuri asked.

Asuka nodded, "It's a girl, she's going to be called Suzu," she said, "Remember to come by and visit after she's born, I'd want you both to meet her."

"We will," Matsuri answered and Gaara nodded.

"Oh and Gaara-kun, I'll be stopping by in a couple days on Christmas Eve to give you three a special tray of holiday treats," she smiled, "But I'll let you two go now, I'm sure you have important things to get back to," she winked before waving and going back inside her home.

"Isn't Asuka-san so nice?" Matsuri said, "I really like her, how about you?"

Gaara nodded, "She is very kind to me," he said.

"You're liked by most people now," Matsuri said, "I'm sure you'll get the title of Kazekage in no time."

He looked at the ground as a small smiled crept up his features, "You think so?"

"Of course!" Matsuri smiled, "You're strong, smart, well known, and fighting for us and everyone in the village, I swear if you save the village one more time they'll give you the title right then and there," Matsuri giggled slightly, "Since you're the protector of the village, you might as well get paid for it too."

"Well, you do have a point there," Gaara smirked. While humor from him was rare, it was not impossible.

Soon they were entering the shopping district and Matsuri turned to Gaara, "Okay the first thing about shopping is budget, how much do you have to spend?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," he said as he pulled out his wallet and opened it, letting her see inside it too. It had a considerable amount stuffed inside.

"Wow, with all that you will be able to get the gifts and even buy me lunch," she laughed.

"Do you want me to? I can do that too," he offered.

She blushed, "Oh no, that's alright, we're here to shop for your brother and sister," she said before whispering to herself, "It's not like this is a date…"

"Where would you purchase jewelry, that's something girls like right?" Gaara asked, he was starting to walk away already.

She quickly caught up to him, "Well, I don't know if that's really something Temari really likes, and I'm not sure if that's something you'd give your sister anyway," she explained while thinking, "But it never hurts to look, I'd start by window shopping over here," she smiled before leading the way.

"What about you, don't you like stuff like that?"

She nodded, "I suppose, even though I don't get to wear jewelry much, I still think it's pretty," she said looking at a particular necklace through the glass.

"They're 'pretty'?" Gaara repeated, his voice hinting only a fraction of his confusion.

"I guess it's also makes me feel pretty, even glamorous or special…" Matsuri sighed, "That's why boys give jewelry to girls they care about, it's supposed to be something special, for someone special," she tried to explain while also trying not to mention romantic love because she knew that the red-head was still near clueless in that area.

"I see," he said standing beside her to see what she what item had caught her attention so deeply that she hadn't taken her eyes off of it. Through the glass was a necklace, and instead of something like a jewel on it like he would have thought, there was a golden key with a modest pattern at its base and a wing shape coming off of it and running along the back of the key. "So you think that is pretty?" Gaara finally asked pointing to it, showing that he was wondering if that was what she was looking at.

She nodded and looked at him, "Uh-huh, don't you?"

He looked over at it again, the sign under it said, 'The Angel Key'. "I guess so, it's appropriate for the season," he said before moving to walk away. There were still many shops to look at.

Matsuri didn't notice right away when he walked away and had to run to catch up, "Wait Gaara-sensei!"

After almost four hours of shopping, and finding everything he would need, he treated her to a late lunch as a thank you for helping him. Matsuri blushed whenever someone looked at them and smiled knowingly. Gaara didn't seem to notice though, or he simply thought that people were being friendly and acknowledging him.

"Would you like me to walk you home? It's starting to get dark," Gaara offered when they took the bags with the purchases back to his house.

"Arigato, but I'll be alright by myself," she said, "But I'll see you on Christmas, sayonara Gaara-sensei," she waved as she left.

Gaara teleported the items into his room and walked into the living area where Kankuro and Temari turned to look at him. "Have fun?" Temari asked with her huge fan still sitting in her lap because she was cleaning it.

"How is shopping fun?" Gaara grimaced and Kankuro laughed outright.

"Well if you have the right company, it can be fun," Temari added, "So did you have a nice time with Matsuri, you don't spend a lot of time with her outside of training and missions."

Gaara sat down at his spot on the couch, "I suppose it was a nice change of atmosphere, she did seem to be enjoying herself," he commented.

"So what did you get me?" Kankuro grinned.

"Well I got--" Gaara started but was interrupted by Temari.

"You're not suppose to tell him, let it be a surprise!"

"But isn't that childish?" Gaara asked.

Temari said no at the same time that Kankuro said yes, so they glared at each other. Deciding that his brother was the one being childish for wanting to know so badly, Gaara got up to leave again. When the two older siblings noticed that Gaara was heading for the door they asked him where he was going.

"I have one more thing I need to do, I'll be back in a little while," Gaara said, "Oh and my room is locked and booby-trapped so don't even try to sneak in there while I'm gone," he warned and then closed the door behind him.

Kankuro turned to Temari, "Wanna try to see what he got us anyway?" He grinned like a cheshire cat. Temari rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair and continued to polish her fan.

A couple days later on Christmas eve, Temari told her bothers that they were not doing any last minute grocery shopping for dinner the next day, because they were invited to attend a Christmas dinner party where there would be many jonin and council members along with their families attending.

Temari had just finished telling them about it and walked off into the kitchen. Right when she was out of view, Kankuro and Gaara high-fived because now they got out of having to suffer through Temari's cooking or having to cook themselves. The brothers had planned on taking Temari out to dinner but this new plan solved their problem too.

"This is beneficial," Gaara commented.

"Yeah, Temari's cooking is terrible," Kankuro nodded.

"I meant for the purpose of networking among the jonin for becoming Kazekage," Gaara explained briefly.

"Oh yeah," Kankuro smiled sheepishly, "You should talk to Baki and ask him about certain people again and check if they like you now."

"He has told me that almost everyone approves of me now, but I will so I know who might be best to leave alone."

"Yeah, like that Hojo guy, he's never going to open his eyes and see what a difference you've made."

Temari heard what Kankuro said as she stepped back into the room with a cup of cocoa, "Hojo is a douche bag, don't pay attention to him just like any other day," she stated before they heard a knock at the front door, "I'll get it," she said as she placed her cup on the coffee table.

The two brothers remained where they were but could hear Temari's and another female's voice in the entryway. Moments later Temari came back in holding a large tray of holiday treats followed by their neighbor, Asuka.

"Konbanwa boys, I brought over those baked treats I promised, I hope you enjoy them," the pregnant woman smiled.

"Arigato-gozaimasu Asuka-san, you're the best!" Kankuro exclaimed, already looking at the selection of treats.

"Arigato-gozaimasu," Gaara bowed his head slightly.

Temari put the tray down on the coffee table so Kankuro could continue to raid it before turning to Asuka, "We got you and your husband a gift," she said and stepped over to where the gifts were placed by a decorated table-top tree. They stopped getting bigger trees because it cost so much to buy one in the desert. She picked up a large gift bag with a large white bow.

"You didn't have to do that," Asuka smiled bashfully but accepted it, "It is safe to shake it?" She asked and Temari nodded and laughed when she held it up and shook it gently but it did not make much noise, "I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning," she smiled, "My husband will thank you as well, are you going to the shinobi dinner party tomorrow evening?"

"Hai, are you planning on going with your husband or take it easy at home?" Temari asked.

Asuka placed a hand on her stomach while the other held the gift, "Not sure yet, he says that if I don't feel up to it by then, we'll stay home."

"I'd say stay home," Kankuro interjected, "We're only going for the social networking stuff."

"Oh, more Kazekage-to-be business?" Asuka winked and laughed. "Buy the way, you'll be fifteen next month wont you? If you like, I can make you a birthday cake," she offered.

"That would be nice," he said just before the telephone rang so Gaara went to get it because he was pretty sure it was for him. He had to leave the room to answer it, "Moshi moshi… hai… hai…"

Asuka left to go home before it got any colder outside, so Temari and Kankuro were watching Gaara from the doorway. He glared at them because he did not like being watched while trying to have a private conversation.

"Hai Matsuri, that will be fine," he said into the receiver before a short silence, "Oyasuminasai," and then he hung up and turned around but his siblings were still in the doorway.

"What did Matsuri want?" Kankuro asked.

"She she is spending the night and morning at her grandmother's so she wanted to know if shortly after noon was a good time to come over to exchange gifts," he explained, "I said it was okay, so be sure to be dressed by then, Kankuro." Then Gaara moved into the living room to help himself to Asuka's baking.

Kankuro was about to join him until Temari told him to deliver their gifts to Baki before he forgot. Grumbling, he put on his shoes and got the gift bag with the items inside before leaving. Then Temari asked Gaara to help with the stocking items while reminding him that he cannot have anything until the next morning.

They were both sitting on the floor seeing to that tradition until he noticed her aura changing, he knew what was coming, big sister mode. "How are you doing Gaara?" Temari asked casually.

"Fine," he stated simply, waiting for what was to come.

"Are you getting… tired?" She asked.

"That may be partially true," he stated, "But you should know how much stronger I've become, suppressing the Shukaku has become much less difficult."

"Good to hear," Temari smirked, "Still have to check every once in a while, it's a big sister thing."

"I know, Temari."

Christmas morning was like most mornings for Gaara, the only difference was that his siblings woke up on their own so he didn't have get them up. Since he still cannot sleep without losing control over his demon, he spent part of the night trying to wrap the gifts he bought. He gave up on that task and used some pre-wrapped boxes and tied them shut. The only gift he didn't have to worry about wrapping was Matsuri's because it was wrapped at the store, complete with a pink bow and ribbon.

When it started to get closer to the time that his siblings would get up, he started the water for cocoa, tea, or coffee in the kitchen. As he started back up the stairs to wake up his siblings he heard them call to him from the living room. Confused he stepped into the room, but as soon as he did he was nearly tackled by his siblings who threw a santa hat on his head followed by a ton of fake snow.

"What's all this?" Gaara asked as he brushed off the paper scraps from his clothing but left the hat.

"Snow, well, the best we can do in the desert," Kankuro snickered, "We thought it would be funny, and it is."

"I see," Gaara said as he commanded sand to pick up some of the fake snow from the bowl behind his siblings and then drop it on them. They laughed while he wore a smug smirk, satisfied with the simple revenge.

After brushing off the white material and while Gaara took the santa hat off, Temari started into the kitchen, "I saved something for this morning, I just have to see if it's still there," she explained. Kankuro and Gaara shared a questioning glance before following her into the kitchen and finding her rummaging through the pantry. "I bought these yesterday so they're should still be good," she said taking out a wide flat box and placing it on the counter and then getting three plates before taking cinnamon roll from the box a placing it on the plate, "This one is for me," she said then put a large cheese danish on another plate and gave it Kankuro, "This is for you." Then last she put a croissant onto the last plate and gave it to Gaara, "And since you don't really like sweet, I got you this," she said.

"Thanks Temari," Kankuro said with a mouthful of his pastry, "I take back all those things I said about you for today."

"Just shut up and eat," Temari glared at her stupid brother, "Then we can move onto opening gifts."

The opening of the gift tradition came soon after they finished eating. Gaara suggested that they could open the ones from him to start so Temari picking up a rather large pre-wrapped box that had her name on it, she had no idea what it could be since it was from Gaara and judging by the size she was afraid there might be a person inside. It turned out that it contained bedding, consisting of a couple soft pillows and a pack that had sheets and a comforter inside. She remember saying that she wanted to get new bedding like a month ago so she thanked him for remembering that's what she wanted.

Meanwhile Kankuro had opened his gift from his brother and it was a rather well made adjustable wrench. Soon after, the two older siblings told Gaara to open the ones from them. Kankuro had got him the Icha Icha book series. While Gaara looked at the books confused, Kankuro was snickering.

"Hey you said you'd take books, but you never gave me any specifics!" The older brother laughed.

Ignoring his brother, Gaara opened the one from Temari as she told him that she got it custom made for its purposes. It was a new grayish-blue vest for holding his sand gourd. "This should be easier to use, or at least easier than your belt and sash," Temari commented as Gaara and Kankuro agreed.

When that was finished, Temari received a fan from Baki, a purple scarf from Asuka, and two music CDs from Kankuro. From Kankuro, Gaara, and Baki was a mechanical fan cleaner. Then she also got a few other things from her friends. Kankuro received the movies Ninja Assassin and Twilight from Temari, a set of mini screw drivers from Baki, and black scarf from Asuka, as well as some money and ninja stuff from some friends. And Gaara also got an hour glass with sand from the far eastern beaches from Baki, a red scarf from Asuka, and chocolate from Sari who seemed to be a friend of Matsuri's that hangs around him a lot now. The three siblings had also bought each other some clothes that they had picked out and they pooled their money together to get themselves a new television.

"This is awesome," Kankuro commented after hooking up and turning on their new television.

Gaara stared at it, "The image is well defined."

The rest of the morning, the siblings had watched the holiday parade in the capital of the Wind Country while sitting in the living room.

"Next year, what would you guys think about getting a hot tub?" Kankuro mentioned.

Temari looked at her brother, "By this time next year, Gaara will be Kazekage and we'll both be jonin, then you can buy your own if want one."

"True, true," Kankuro nodded.

Someone knocked on the front door so Gaara got up, "It's Matsuri," he said while the others watched him open the door, "Konnichiwa--"

"Merry Christmas!" Matsuri exclaimed cheerfully as she gave him a quick hug before picking up her gift bag and walking inside. "Hello everyone," she smiled, "Wow, look at that!" She said looking at the new television.

"Yeah, cool huh?" Kankuro grinned.

Matsuri nodded, "I brought you gifts, they're really simple but you people are impossible to shop for," she said pulling out two envelops and giving them to Temari and Kankuro before giving the rest of the gift bag to Gaara. The envelops had a card with money inside and the gift bag had a framed picture of her and Gaara soon after she first started training under him. "I wanted to do something like this for you but this turned out to be the only picture of the two of us," she blushed.

"Arigato Matsuri-chan," he said still looking at it for a while before looking at her, "We got you gifts as well."

"That's right," Temari interjected as she picked up a wrapped gift and handed it to her.

"Arigato-gozaimasu Temari, you didn't have to that," she said before opening it. It was a very cute pink and black purse, "Kawaii!" The girl exclaimed before hugging the blonde. Then Kankuro gave her a card with some money and Matsuri thanked and hugged him too.

Temari whispered something to Kankuro and they both left while Gaara picked up his gift for his student, "Here," he said.

She took the small wrapped package and untied the pink ribbon, once she got through the wrapping paper she opened the box to see the Angel Key she liked so much when she was shopping with him a couple days ago, the necklace with the key and the wing going down the side. "G-Gaara-sensei, this is so thoughtful…" she blushed and smiled, "I can't believe you went back there and got it."

"I thought you liked it?" he frowned.

"I did, I do! Arigato-gozaimasu!" She gave him another quick hug and proceeded to put it on.

"Do-itashi-mashite," he responded politely.

"How does it look?" She asked just before she saw something hovering over their heads. Once she realized what it was she started blushing, it was mistletoe.

"It suits you, and what are you doing?" Gaara demanded from his siblings, "Don't drop more stuff on my head, we all just finished getting the snow out of our hair." He obviously didn't realize exactly what the item hovering above them meant.

"Just do it and we'll leave you alone," Kankuro tried.

"Do what?" Gaara retorted as he sand coffined the mistletoe. "Would you like to stay for cocoa Matsuri?" He asked, irritation still evident in this voice.

"Uh, sure…"

During that small get together, Temari had asked Matsuri to also attend the Christmas dinner party tonight after explaining why they were going. Since Matsuri agreed, she had to leave a little earlier to make sure she could be ready in time and also told them that she would look forward to seeing them there.

That evening, the sand siblings arrived at the party only half an hour after the designated start time, so there the building was bustling with people socializing and walking about the grand room. Many ninja were present, most were ranked chunin or higher, but there were a few genin that had come as a date or with their families.

"Ready to make the rounds?" Kankuro asked confidently while Gaara grimaced at the idea but knew he had to.

"I suppose we should start with the council," Gaara finally agreed.

They spent the next half an hour talking to various people, most of which came up to them and started casual conversation. After speaking with several people, Temari had Gaara go with her to get themselves some drinks and start to their table before the actual dinner started.

They quickly found the table they were assigned and found three people also sitting there, "Konbanwa Matsuri, and Sari, what are you doing here?" Gaara asked still standing behind a chair.

Sari jumped up at the sound of Gaara voice, "Gaara-sensei!" The long brown-haired girl exclaimed happily about to jump on him until Matsuri grabbed the hem of her top and pulled her back to her seat to keep her from doing anything. Just then Kankuro came up to Gaara so he had turned away from the girls and didn't see their glare war.

"I just heard that they really are considering you as the next Kazekage, Gaara," Kankuro said, "Sometime within the next six months they will make their final decision."

"That is good to hear, the village cannot go without a Kazekage for too much longer," Gaara added.

"And you're the best candidate for the job, right ladies?" Kankuro asked the girls sitting at the table. They both smiled and nodded. Temari laughed to herself before walking away to do something else.

"You have far too much faith in me, while I have come a long way, there is still much farther for me to go," Gaara said.

"You say that, but you're still way better than any of these other guys," Kankuro said tilting his head in the direction of other jonin that want the position.

The two brown haired girls had jumped up and stood closely on each side to him, "Yeah!" They both agreed again. Gaara didn't say anything as he turned back to the table to take his seat. The girls paused to look at each other before rushing to the seats on each side of him.

"So Gaara-sensei," Sari piped in before Matsuri could, "Did you like my present?"

"Yes, arigato Sari," he replied, making her smile.

Now it was Matsuri's turn, "Arigato again for the necklace Gaara-sensei, it goes perfectly with my dress," she said to make Sari jealous.

It worked. "He got you a necklace!" Sari gasped unhappily before regaining to confidence, "Gosh Klutz-girl, what were you thinking wearing that with that outfit, it's WAY to pretty for your tastes."

"Be quiet Airhead, you're the last person who should be talking about accessorizing!" Matsuri retorted.

The two girls continued to bicker while Kankuro sat down and watched, finding the whole thing humorous, while Gaara seemed to be the master at ignoring cat fights. Only another couple minutes of this went by until Temari returned.

"So why are you here, Sari?" Temari asked as she took the seat next to her.

"I came with my brother, he's sitting with his girlfriend," Sari explained before turning back to Matsuri, "Which reminds me, why are you here Klutz-girl?" She asked Matsuri.

"She was invited," Gaara interrupted, making them both be quiet for the time being.

Soon they all ate and even got a nice dessert. They saw no sign of Asuka and her husband the entire evening so they must have stayed home. And really none of them blamed them because it was only a social event. After dinner, the siblings stayed for another hour or so before going home after many of the other guests already left including the still bickering girls, but not without Gaara reminding them that their vacation time would be up soon and they would have to go back to training.

As soon as they got home, Kankuro and Gaara ate some more seeing how they are both growing teenage boys, while Temari called her friends to tell them about the dinner, and Gaara decided to look at the Icha Icha books Kankuro got him. Unfortunately, he had to stop after the first chapter because of confusion and the risk of falling asleep.

Late that night, the brothers ate some more again while discussing an upcoming mission until Kankuro had to turn in for the night, leaving Gaara to himself like all other nights. Knowing it would be best to meditate and rest, he instead spent a few hours thinking about his day.

**'****Have a good holiday, boy?' **Shukaku said from inside of Gaara's meditative state.

'_I did,' _Gaara responded just by thinking, '_Couldn't help but notice that even you were being good today.' _

**'****Bah, even I want to take a holiday sometimes, you're no fun to be around either, kid.'**

'_Then go back to your cage, demon,' _Gaara replied as he refocused on suppressing the demon conscience and influence.

Christmas is much better for him now than it has been in the past, he enjoyed spending it with his siblings it was times like this that he would forget the hardships he had to endure to get to where he is now. People seemed to really like him now and even almost completely forget that he has Shukaku sealed inside of him. Matsuri and Sari surely don't mind since they always get so close to him, something that hardly anyone ever does. And Asuka is like what a real mother should be, sometimes that made him a little envious that he and his siblings never really had what she is going to offer her own children, but it also reassured him that there really is kind people.

Gaara reopened his eyes and went downstairs, stopping in front of the picture of his mother on a mantle with an angel decoration on each side. He stared at it for several moments, "Merry Christmas, Okasama," he finally said, not knowing that his brother and sister had done the exact same thing.

* * *

_Thank you for reading!_


	4. Episode 2: Control

_What's this? An update? That's right, I finally got back to this story!_

_Gaara goes on a solo mission. No one can go with him as he has to face himself, and find the control and peace within himself that he desperately needs before he can move on and even try to truly redeem himself. Temari and Kankuro share a long serious conversation of what they expect from the future, and what they expect and hope in Gaara's future._

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Episode 2: Control**

"Gaara!"

'_What?'_

"Gaara!"

'_Temari?'_

"Gaara!"

'_Kankuro too? Something's… not right…'_

"Gaara, snap out of it!" Both Kankuro's and Temari's voices pierced through to him and he suddenly became aware of his surroundings. An all too familiar scent of wet iron surrounded him.

The bloody sand around him fell to the ground as he dropped his hands and stood upright. "I… I lost control… again," he muttered.

It was supposed to be a simple mission, just something to fill up time. But then those Grass Shinobi attacked them. The rush, the smells, the mere aura of the battle caused the demon inside him, Shukaku, to stir and laugh malevolently. Gaara was able to ignore it and defend himself. It was when he saw Temari's blood fly from a cut on her cheek that he lost focus and Shukaku struck.

All he comprehended was a red haze. He was in danger. His siblings were in danger. Kill the threat. Destroy the danger.

"Gaara, are you alright?" Kankuro said as he put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder.

Gaara didn't answer any of his siblings' questions and continued to command his sand back to him. This mission was over, so it's time to leave. The mission was simply to see how big of a group of Grass Shinobi were trespassing on their territory. But all twelve of them are the past now.

The walk back to the village was quiet, the silence only made the hour long travel seem longer. Upon their return, they reported to the counsel, who were obviously displeased with the young demon vessel, but wisely focused on the fact that there was no longer a potential threat to worry about.

A demon vessel. Is that all Gaara will ever be, is that all he can be? He certainly wanted to know the answer. If he wanted to go anywhere and doing anything with his life, he has to know. There must be something he can to. The foremost problem to finding the solution is _where_ to find it.

Deciding his best option, he silently left once the debriefing ended.

"Where is he going?" Temari questioned the puppeteer.

"I don't know, but I think he wants to be alone, he hasn't said a word since the mission, let's just give him some space," Kankuro said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but he better be home by curfew," she sighed.

"You really think he's going to go by your new rules?"

Temari smirked, "Yes, I do," she stated surely.

Hours later, Gaara sat alone in the library of the Kazekage building. There was supposed to be a lot of classified information here. True, he wasn't supposed to be in here at all, but the guard posted outside didn't lift a finger to stop him. Sometimes being the most feared being in the village had its advantages. This was one of the few.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his arms in front of him before glancing over the number of scrolls and books laid out before him on the table. What little information he was able to get was so vague. He was unsure if any of his questions were answered, but he knew that he had even more questions. Still, he knew what he was going to do or at least, what he was going to try.

Standing up, he used his sand to put everything away where he found it and left the way he came so he could get home before curfew. He had no idea what Temari would do if he broke that rule she put into place, and frankly, he didn't want to find out. It's not like the curfew was ridiculously early, and she follows it too. When she told the bothers the new rule, she told them that if they miss dinner, too bad, they can fend for themselves, and after that they have to be home by ten o'clock or suffer the consequences.

He walked into their house at 9:30pm. He missed dinner, but he didn't really care about that right now. Not seeing either of his siblings downstairs, he continued to his room where he would prepare himself. He quickly realized that he didn't have much preparing to do, seeing that he was already in his ninja gear and his sand was fully stocked. Still, since he hadn't been home all day, he went through and did his few grooming tasks of running a fine comb through his unmanageable hair then brushed his teeth and washed his hands and face.

As he opened the front door to leave again, he immediately regretted not going out the window of his room. "Where do you think you're going?" Temari questioned from behind him.

Gaara closed the door again and turned to face his siblings. He knew they would demand answers. "I'm going on a journey, I have to go alone," he stated.

"Wait, what?" Kankuro asked.

"You're going to have to be more specific, Gaara," Temari added.

He sighed and leaned back on his gourd against the door and folded his arms over his chest. "I have to do something about the Shukaku, control is my only option… I'm going to spiritual place in the desert where I will face myself and my own inner demons so I can finally subdue the real one," he paused as he uncrossed his arms and placed them at his sides, "I may not return, but if I'm going to die, then I'm taking the Shukaku with me."

Temari and Kankuro shared a worried glace. They were well aware that Gaara had been suffering even more now because he is trying so hard to be normal, to be good. With every instance the Shukaku interferes, it's like he's back at the starting line, and the finishing line is even farther away than before.

"Are you sure you want to do this now? You should at least wait until morning," Temari tried.

Gaara turned and face the door again, "You know that waiting will do nothing for me, this is my only option… farewell." He said it as if he meant it to be a final goodbye. His siblings didn't try to stop him again, it was futile, they knew that Gaara had to do this. All they could do was hope for the best.

…

… …

… … …

'…_Maybe this was a bad idea_,' he thought to himself as the sun started to rise. A spiritual place in the desert wasn't as easy to find as he initially thought. Was it even there at all? Was it a hoax? A mere rumor?

He kept walking. Though he started out running, he was growing tired and he knew better than to push himself and fall asleep. The wind felt nice though, it was the only pleasure he would let himself indulge in. He felt he didn't deserve anything else, not even rest. He was determined to see this journey through to the end. His very sanity depended on it.

'_Sanity? Like I have any left…_' he though bitterly and continued to walk in lonely silence.

Back in the village, Temari and Kankuro explained to Baki what they could about Gaara's absence. To their own surprise, the Jonin was very understanding of Gaara's actions and was already made aware that Gaara was in the library the day before by the guard that saw him go in.

"All we can do is wait and hope he comes through, if he does, it will be a great achievement for him and a benefit to the village," the older man stated.

"I feel so useless," Kankuro grumbled. Here he was, only a few mere weeks after swearing to himself to be the older brother that Gaara needed, standing and doing nothing to help him.

"I think there is something the two of you can do for him," Baki said, gaining the full attention of the younger ninja. "You both need to believe in him… not just now, but always."

"Just… believe?" Temari repeated.

Baki nodded, "He will return," he stated surely. "And when he does, he will be a whole new person, and that person will need you… of course, Gaara may be still unable to trust others and reluctant to admit he needs you."

"I don't get it?" Kankuro admitted.

"Go home and plan, the future holds no guarantees, but being able to see one more rung on the latter makes it easier to climb," Baki advised.

Kankuro was still confused so he looked to Temari, who only held a serious thoughtful expression as she processed their sensei's words. "Alright, and there we will wait for him," Temari finally said. "Come on, Kankuro, we need to talk." Kankuro just nodded to his sister and waved a goodbye to Baki.

The sun was high over the desert. Were his feet even moving anymore? All his focus was on his surroundings, looking for the place where he is to face himself. Once he reached the edge of a cliff, he stopped walking and looked over the wastelands reaching the horizon. He sat down with his feet hanging over the side.

He was not taking a break because he wanted to, but because he needed to. This wasteland reminded him of himself. Alone, unwelcoming, harsh, and covered in sand.

Shukaku began growling angrily as he approach the cliff edge minutes ago. Gaara took that as a sign that he was getting close to his goal. For now he needs to rest so he can maintain control over the demon and himself.

A shadow behind him caught his attention so he stood and turned to face whoever it was. Not seeing anything, he decided it must have been the shadow of a bird in the sun. He turned back about only to have himself mere inches away. He reflexively took a step back and studied the figure before him. It was him. No. This other Gaara had the black and golden eyes of the Shukaku, and the evil smirk that showed his malevolent thoughts.

"You're alone…" the black-eyed Gaara spoke tauntingly with a slight hiss that would make a man's skin crawl as if touched by pure evil. "You regret that… regret demanding that you face me alone, that you face yourself alone…"

Gaara glared while debating whether to attack. "Who are you?"

The black-eyed Gaara's smirk grew into a sadistic grin, "You know… I am what is inside your heart…" he told him. Gaara didn't respond, only wondering if this is what was supposed to happen. "You don't deny it because you know it's true… you know what you are… you don't deny it." He took a small step closer. "What you _do_ deny is your jealously…"

"Jealously?" Gaara repeated.

His answer was a sudden bout of laughter. "They had what you always wanted… fun, laughter, joy, friends, and…" he stepped closer before whispering, "Love…" he then snickered. "Over time your envy consumes you… and you want to see them suffer as much as you have…"

"No one will suffer like that as long as I can do something about it," Gaara said.

"Tell me, why do some souls seem to suffer more than others?" the black-eyed Gaara began to step around him, circling him like a predator

"I do not have an answer to something like that."

"Do you think you have suffered?" the black-eyed Gaara asked but continued before Gaara could answer, "Suffering is all you know, so how would you be able to tell the difference?"

"In comparison to-"

"To him," the black-eyed Gaara cut him off. Gaara was confused since that's not what he was going to say, so the other him continued. "You're jealous of him… Uzumaki."

"What?" Gaara didn't understand why he would bring up the Leaf Shinobi.

"He was on the same path… and so you caught a glimpse of the possibilities… if you had even a fraction of the luck he does… things could have been different… maybe you could have shared happiness with someone…" he snickered again. "You envy him."

Gaara crossed his arms. Was that true, is he envious Naruto? He didn't think so. They are the same, two lonely souls destined for something big, with long hard journeys to lead in order to become strong enough to face what's ahead. Naruto was meant to live the way he had, and Gaara was meant to live the way he had, even though they both suffered, they suffered the same pain. He's sure of it. "I respect him," Gaara said surely. Never in his life had he ever admitted he respected anybody.

The black-eyed Gaara shot him a deathly glare. Gaara was unaware that's what he looked like when he glared, no wonder people would visibly shudder at the sight. Perhaps that comment Kankuro made about learning how to smile wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"You envy him," the other him pressed.

"Maybe a little, but not because he was dealt better cards than me, but because he beat me," Gaara said, a small smirk appearing on his face as he crossed his arms. "That loud, brightly clad, joke of a ninja even in his own village, actually beat me, Gaara of the Sand."

"No! He didn't just beat you! He made a fool out of you!"

"Maybe that's what was meant to happen!" Gaara shot back. If it wasn't for everything that happened during the exams, he would still be nothing more than an empty shell, desperate to fill the void with the thrill of killing. Now he has hope.

"Nothing you desire will be easy!"

"It shouldn't be!" Gaara shouted then stopped while sand began to gather around his other self. He watched closely as he then morphed into the image of his mother.

She stood there silently before finally whispering, "Monster."

For some reason, that physically stung. The cursed beast inside him stirred and tried to convince Gaara that he was angry so he would lash out and attack, but he knew that's not want he wanted, at least not anymore. Now he just wants peace.

The figure before him morphed again, this time into the image of his father. How he hated the man. "You were supposed to die."

"…I don't think so," Gaara answered.

Temari and Kankuro hadn't said anything for an hour. They just sat in the kitchen in deep thought. The only sound was the faint ticking of a wall clock.

"Do you think Gaara can change?" Kankuro asked suddenly. "I mean, I know he's been trying and he's making improvements, but what if he can't?"

"I've wondered that myself, but I think I've realized something," Temari started, "When Gaara would kill, he was almost always provoked first, he doesn't just decide he feels like killing and goes out and attacks the first person he sees, the battles come to him."

"Yeah, so? With the constant string of assassins and people that just wanted him dead for one reason or another, what else can he do? It's not like he even learned how to negotiate with other killers, he _is_ a ninja after all."

"Exactly, all this time, he's been doing exactly what we're all trained to do, eliminate threats and stay alive," Temari pointed out. "The thing that makes him more dangerous than any of us is…"

"The Shukaku… or more like its influence," Kankuro sighed. He's not that different after all. Kankuro wondered when the rest of the village would realize that too. More like _if_.

"Do you ever wonder if he'll still be able to control sand once he suppresses the Shukaku?"

"Well yeah, he's been suppressing the demon all the time to the best of his abilities," Kankuro crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair and considered further. "He's going after control, and if- I mean _when _he does that, he'll be even stronger, heck he'd be so strong that he would have to Kazekage."

"Kazekage? Gaara?" Temari repeated. As she thought about it, the more the role fit him in the future. "He still has a long ways to go before that can happen, Kankuro."

"I know," Kankuro then laughed, easing the tension around them. "I remember when he was about five or six, he tried to bring home a stray cat, asking Uncle if he could keep it. I was in the next room when this was happening. Uncle told Gaara to ask Father, who instantly said no. I think that was the only time I ever saw Gaara pout, that's when I first realized that he was just another brat," Kankuro laughed again. "But now I know even more than that."

Temari smiled slightly, "We've all been learning…"

Gaara was facing the image of this father, the forth Kazekage. This was the eighth time he appeared. The purpose was to make Gaara lose it, and attack. Exactly the thing that was always causing him to have to keep starting over. Not this time. This time he was able to stay above all that and focus on what he believes in.

He is not a monster, Shukaku is. He's not supposed to die yet, he doesn't have a good reason for it yet, considering the many lives he has taken away he may deserve to die too right here and now. The next form that morphed before him was the one that surprised him the most. It was the form of Naruto Uzumaki.

"You hurt my friends," he said.

"…I'm sorry," Gaara breathed as he recalled his actions that day.

"You were planning on taking away my home."

"…Those were orders."

"But you're strong, you wouldn't have had to do anything you didn't want to, they all fear your power."

"I needed something to do, a goal, a purpose… going after Konoha was wrong, but the ones that gave the order were stopped!" Gaara said without hesitation or doubt.

Naruto suddenly crumbled away into sand, leaving the thing that haunted Gaara the most. Nothing and loneliness. He knew it too well, but for some reason, it would continue to hurt just the same. There was so many things that he became numb to. Not being accepted by his own family, being feared and hated, the nasty things people would say to him, and even their glares. He had learned to ignore all of that in time while silently cursing them himself. But the loneliness always hurt. It still does.

"But I'm not alone anymore…" Gaara said towards the nothingness before him. "Though it takes time for those wounds to heals, and some are sure to leave scars," he said as his fingers unconsciously touch the kanji on his forehead. He hardly ever actually touched it, but he could always feel it.

He started to worry when he started to feel lightheaded and his vision blurred. Was he passing out, fainting, or falling asleep? All could be disastrous as long as he has chakra. His foot came forward to steady himself, but he felt like he was falling instead. At least if he loses control here, there is no one around to suffer because of it. He could close his eyes, just for a second.

When he opened them he was in a strange, but familiar place. Within his mind was dark and damp, yet still warm without being humid. He never had to venture far before to find the form of Shukaku. He was always here, lurking in the shadows while trying to find something entertaining. Unfortunately, all there was here was the inners of Gaara's mind to toy with.

"**You!"** Shukaku growled as Gaara approached. **"You've been suppressing me! Keeping me trapped inside this room!"**

Gaara remained as silent as ever with a deadly glare. In his mind he was determined to put him in an even smaller room with bars and chains. The chains holding Shukaku where he was now were obviously not going to hold him for long.

"**You can't control me!" **the demon shouted angrily, it's harsh voice echoing throughout every shadowed corner, then it attacked, pulling as far away from the base of the chains as he could to strike at Gaara.

Gaara immediately went on the defensive in order to dodge the massive claws followed by the sandstone spiked tail heading his way. "And you can't control me! Not anymore!" he declared.

The demon glared with its black and golden eyes before laughing and swiping with its claws again. This time the redhead was struck and landed somewhere in the darkest corners. **"You are too weak, boy, you'll never be more than my puppet!"** Shukaku's voice echoed as he pulled at the chains further. Each word seemingly taunted the young shinobi as they repeated weak, boy, and puppet in the echoing room.

Gaara snickered in spite of himself. "Demon, you are not going to win this fight," he said as he picked himself up. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to win this. A thirteen-year-old versus a legendary tailed demon, the odds were not exactly in his favor. All Gaara had that the demon did not was his will, and the will of a shinobi. Maybe, just maybe, that was all he needed.

With every second that passed as he considered his next move, Shukaku broke the chains one at a time, slowly getting closer. Finally the last loud clank was heard when the final chain broke. The demon laughed triumphantly. His eyes settled on the redhead and he grinned.

This is it. All or nothing. Gaara got ready for the next attack only to become confused when strong chains of chakra came from all directions and stopped Shukaku.

"**Karura!" **Shukaku roared. **"I know this is your chakra! Come out an fight me yourself!" **

"What?" Gaara breathed, he was even more confused. He whipped around and searched the shadows wondering if such a thing was even possible.

He spotted her, right behind him. How he wasn't able to sense a presence, he was baffled. But he was even more baffled at the fact that it was _her_. Even though he had never got the chance to meet her himself, he knew it was her.

In a mere blink, they seemed to no longer be in the same place. It was still dark, but this was calming. He quickly scanned his surrounding, and the best he could figure was that he seemed to be in space. Nothing but softly glowing stars surrounded them, but for some reason he could see her perfectly, as if there was no real darkness here.

"Gaara…" she spoke softly, breaking the silence, and proving to him that it was real.

"…Mother?" he asked hesitantly, but he knew the answer, though there was one thing that really confused him. "How?"

She sighed, almost with relief. "In order to put the final seal inside you at your birth, my own life and chakra was used," she explained. "I knew what was going to happen to you, the hatred… I tried to convince him not to do it."

He knew she was referring to his father. He'd prefer to not even think about that man for a while. Gaara simply nodded for her to continue.

"I didn't want you to suffer, but as you know, he didn't listen to my warnings. As a precaution, I sealed part of my own chakra inside you over the course of my pregnancy so I could one day help you. I suppose explaining everything would be a good start," she said. "During the time I carried you, I became very depressed and angry at your father for demanding such things from me. My hatred filled me and the demon that was already placed within my womb where you were… thus transferring my own hatred and pain to you…" she trailed off, whipping a tear. "I am so sorry," she breathed.

"Don't be, there was nothing to be done about it," Gaara said and turned away from her. It was so weird to actually see her. He could actually see so much of his sister in her. "What's done is done."

She smiled. "You grew to be strong… I am so happy."

Gaara didn't say anything, but turned back to face her. It was strange that he felt like he already knew her. Her presence was so familiar.

"I'm still sorry that I couldn't be there to love you, your name was to represent what I knew you were to become without me to love you like I would have wanted. I am proud of you for overcoming the demon's influence and choosing your own path, while not once considering the easy way out," she smiled. "I hope your brother and sister are taking care of you."

Gaara nodded, "They are."

"Thank goodness, and what of your father?"

"Dead," he stated.

"I see, then who is Kazekage?"

"There is no Kazekage, the corruption in the village runs deep, and the village will not accept another Kazekage until they feel like they can trust one again."

"Things are that bad?"

Gaara shook his head, "There is still hope." They were silent before Gaara was the one to speak again. "I'll do it," he said, "I'll gain the village's trust and become Kazekage."

Karura smiled again, "Make sure to surpass your father in every way," she told him.

"I will not accept anything less," he nodded.

"And Gaara, since I'm running out of time, there are a few things like that I would like to tell you, as your mother that I never got to say," she said and he let her continue. "I want you to make friends, and rivals, care for your family and protect the village because they are family too. Meet a nice girl, take good care of yourself and don't over do it, and grow tall and strong. Make a great Kazekage, and help change the world for the better."

To his surprise, she hugged him. "I promise to do my best… Mother," he said before she finally faded away.

"Good luck, I believe in you," her voice told him.

When he opened his eyes, he faced the subdued demon with newfound strength and confidence. By sheer will power, his chakra pulled the demon into a powerful barrier. It doesn't have another seal, but it will do. Shukaku screamed, roared, cursed, and fought the entire way. Then screamed in agony as ten giant spikes pierced its enormous tail, limbs, and heart, then he passed out.

Gaara stood in victory until everything went black and he felt something weighing on him. It seemed to push down on his eyes and cause his mind to go foggy. Sleep.

It had been 48 hours since Gaara left before the other siblings were allowed to depart and search for him. They had talked all night. Turns out they shared the same thoughts after Gaara's transformation after the battles in Konoha. Actually, they had all changed that day, and for the better too. Both Kankuro and Temari believed that Gaara was capable of great things for their village, and they would be there to support them. If Gaara was really meant to die soon trying all he can to gain control, then the least they can do is tell him that they feel that way.

Maybe their words can make a small difference in his heart. The more confidence he gains in himself to do this, the better.

After hours of nonstop running, they approached the cliff that one of the messenger birds reported as his last location. They both stopped and looked around, seeing no trace of him anywhere. Kankuro gazed over the wastelands that stretched endlessly before them.

"What a depressing place," he muttered.

"Yeah, thousands of people died here, didn't you pay attention to history?"

"Wha…?"

Temari groaned, "There was a great battle here called The Siege of Lost Hopes, it was a civil war in The Land of Wind where everyone died but a hundred remaining soldiers on the winning side. The battled last seven weeks and when it was over it was a massive graveyard, a place of carnage, death, and lost hopes. It was once a spiritual place with an oasis and a temple, but everything was destroyed in the battle and never restored itself. Even to this day it is unknown exactly where the temple once stood," she explained.

"So if this is a spiritual place, do you think Gaara is here somewhere looking for the remains of the temple?" Kankuro asked.

Temari stepped up to the edge of the cliff and scanned the horizons. She had a nagging feeling that she couldn't quite place. Finally she looked down, and saw him. "There!" she called and Kankuro ran to look too.

"Damn!" he cursed and took off running to get to the trail the led to the bottom of the cliff. "We have to hurry, Temari fly down there, I'll catch up!" he called back to her.

Temari nodded and swung open her giant fan before jumping onto it and moving into the air where she focused her chakra on the fan to balance and send herself down quickly. As soon as she was within jumping distance, she leaped off the fan, grabbing it as she went down, and went to where Gaara lay on the ground. "Gaara! Gaara!" she called to him before getting the sense to check if he was alive by feeling for a pulse. "Thank goodness," she sighed for a moment when she felt it.

Kankuro was by her side now and they both helped put Gaara in a sitting position after they confirmed that nothing was broken. "What's wrong with him?" Kankuro asked.

"I have no idea," Temari shook her head. They were both aware that Gaara was not in his demon form, which he always is when he falls asleep unless he has no chakra left. "If he's out of chakra, then we should take him back."

"Right," Kankuro nodded and began to adjust his unconscious younger brother so he could carry him back to the village. "His sand is gone, did he fight someone?"

Temari shrugged, "We'll find out when he wakes up, come on." Kankuro nodded and followed his sister.

Gaara didn't even budge the entire time it took them to get back to the village. His older siblings remained calm, this was a mission, no, it was more than that…

Hours later, they were finally in the hospital. Gaara still hadn't come to and the medics had no explanation for it other than he was in a deep sleep state. Even the medics were aware that was impossible, but it was all they had. For now they just had to wait, and just for security purposes, he remained under constant watch in case the demon surfaced.

Baki came to check on them in the middle of the night.

"What do you think, Baki?" Kankuro asked.

Baki looked thoughtful for a moment as he looked at each of the ninja, including Gaara in the hospital bed. "Just wait until morning, he'll come back to you."

Temari and Kankuro exchanged glances as Baki turned to leave.

Morning came relatively quick since they had fallen asleep in the hospital. Temari woke up first, only to find Gaara sitting up in his bed while looking out the window.

"Gaara!" she said suddenly, waking up Kankuro in the process while Gaara only turned to meet her gaze. "Did you…?" she trailed off.

Gaara nodded once slowly, making the others smile. "We knew you would," Kankuro praised.

"…Thanks," he answered then looked back out the window.

"How did you sleep?" Temari asked, and he looked back at her in shock.

"I… what?" he blinked.

"When the medic confirmed that you weren't in a coma and you still had chakra remaining, they said that you were only showing signs of sleep after a chronic fatigue. Believe me, we were just as shocked. So how are you feeling?" Temari added.

Gaara took a moment to think. In fact, he felt great. His mind was actually clear. But there was one problem that made itself known when his stomach ached. "Hungry…" he said.

Kankuro laughed slightly, "Food sounds like a great idea, as soon as we get you outta here, we're getting something good to eat!"

"Defiantly," Temari agreed, "Go get the medic with the release papers," she said to Kankuro, who quickly complied. "So," she turned to Gaara, "Do you have full control over it?" she asked hopefully.

"It's enough, I will have to remain focused enough to maintain the seal's level, for now, Shukaku is just weakened, as long as I remain in a stronger state, I do have control," he said.

Temari's smiled dropped slightly, she was hoping for the best, but this was still a huge step. "Well, just don't overdo it or otherwise all that hard work will go to waste, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," he said and turned back to the window. As soon as he felt something on his shoulder, he looked back at his sister.

"Hey, cheer up a little, you did a great job, this is sure to pay off," she reassured.

He nodded and looked up to see Kankuro with the paperwork, "Almost done, don't let me ruin Temari's sisterly moment, we all know how rare those can be," he teased making Temari glare at him.

Gaara smiled slightly, momentarily forgetting everything else in the world. He really couldn't stop the urge to smile, he felt so good, and even content. It was just him and his family about to celebrate. He really did wake up to a new day, and he knew it was going to be a good one.

* * *

_So I hope you enjoyed this. Next time we'll be getting more into some humor so that's something to look forward to. Let me know what you thought._


	5. Episode 3: Gaara's New Look

_Gaara is finally convinced that he still looks a little too scary, but could a new outfit and haircut really change the way people feel about him? He doesn't think so. A new day means new clothes, at least according to Temari, who has already grown tired of her own clothes. So how is she going to trick Gaara into shopping with her for some new threads? And who cuts Gaara's hair anyway?_

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Episode 3: Gaara's New Look**

Kankuro was being a couch potato. He had been working on his puppets all day and now he was waiting for his siblings to get back. Gaara and Temari were supposed to be getting new clothes. It was taking much longer than he thought it should. He was sure that was Temari's doing.

The teen puppeteer yawned and ate some more chips when he finally heard his siblings return. Temari came in first and spun around to model her new outfit. Temari's appearance was changed a bit, but there were still a trend in comparison to her old outfit.

She no longer had a mesh top and now wore a darker violet robe top with a dark blue skirt with a high slit up the side. She now had some chest armor on the outside of her outfit, held into place with a long red sash tied around her waist.

"I think this outfit is much more flattering to my figure," Temari boasted, "Don't you agree?"

"You shouldn't wear such revealing skirts, Temari," Kankuro sighed, this argument was futile, but he still felt the need to say it.

"Shorter is easier to move in," Temari said.

"Then just wear pants," Kankuro added.

"No way," Temari said then looked around. "Gaara! Get in here too!" she called for him.

It took him a minute to enter the room. He had almost completely ditched the black and now sported a dark, dull shade of red with an upright collar and full sleeves with mesh armor underneath. His hair was now trimmed and styled, but still pretty much the same.

"Not bad, bro," Kankuro said, "How does it feel?"

"Better," Gaara said.

"So what took you guys so long?" Kankuro asked.

~~~ Earlier that Day ~~~

As usual, it was going to be sunny in the Hidden Sand Village today. In the early morning hours, it was still cool out so Temari always got up early. She cleaned herself up, got dressed, did her hair, and then did her makeup as she normally would. Looking in her bedroom mirror, she sighed at her reflection.

"How boring," she said to her reflection, "Wearing the same old thing day after day, I need to change my look a little bit." Temari smirked as she got an idea. "And I'm not the only one." After checking herself over one last time, she headed down the stairs of the home that she and her bothers shared.

As usual, Gaara was waiting in the kitchen so he could get something to eat before disappearing again. He already made some tea, which was not necessarily unusual, but still rare.

'_Sorry Gaara, but you're going to be doing something a little different today, whether you like it or not,' _Temari thought to herself.

"What?" Gaara questioned when he noticed Temari's plotting expression being aimed at him.

"Oh nothing, nothing," she fake laughed, "I'm going to start our breakfast now." She made herself busy right away to avoid any more questions. Just as she predicted, Gaara kept quiet and let her work in peace.

When she was almost finished, they heard a soft thump from the stairway. Kankuro must have jumped to the bottom again. "Hey!" he greeted, "You know how yesterday I couldn't find my good wrench?" he started with a grin, "Well, when I woke up I found it!" he said and held it up for them to see. "Now I can finally finish making the adjustments on my new puppet."

"So you'll be able to use the Black Ant in battle soon?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on it, I have to know every inch of the weapon before I can start using it," Kankuro said before taking a seat next to Gaara and pouring some tea. "Anyway, I heard that the weather today is supposed to be really mild, barely any wind, so if you've been wanting to go out and chill, today would be a good day to do that," he said to Gaara.

"Yes, I think I will go for a walk after training today," Gaara agreed.

Temari turned around to face them, "Actually Gaara, you can come with me when I go out today if you want."

"For what?"

She laughed nervously, "For clothes shopping," she muttered, but both brothers heard it.

Kankuro laughed and Gaara didn't say anything at first. "No thank you," he said.

"But don't you want to change your look?" Temari asked. "Maybe you shouldn't wear as much black and people won't be as scared of you, you know how color affects people," she said.

"Yeah Gaara, she's actually right on that, you need some new threads," Kankuro agreed.

"…Very well," Gaara agreed.

"Great!" Temari smiled and finished preparing their breakfast.

A few hours later when Gaara returned from his private training, he was immediately met by Temari at the door as he stepped inside. "How was training?" she asked casually.

"Better, suppressing the Shukaku is much easier now as long as my chakra is not depleted, but if I continue training I should learn how to suppress the demon even more."

"That's really good, Gaara," she smiled and he began to walk away from her. "Wait, come to the kitchen," she told him.

"Why?" he asked uninterested.

"Your hair is due for a trim, come on," Temari said.

Gaara sighed. He doesn't like getting his hair cut, but it has to be done. He went to the kitchen and found that she already pulled out a chair and was gesturing for him to sit. After sitting down, she draped a towel over his shoulders and picked up the scissors and small comb she always used for his hair.

"I'm only taking off a little bit and evening up your bangs," Temari said, "I was thinking you might want to try growing it out a little so I'll just keep evening it up."

"Alright," he said and she began the trim.

She did the back first then moved to the front and exaggerated the direction of his bangs a bit, though not on purpose. Soon she was done and stepped back. "Okay, all done," she told him and helped removed the towel before cleaning up the hair that landed on the floor. Then Gaara started to leave again. "Wait, aren't you ready to go? We need to go shopping."

Gaara nearly shuddered at the thought. "…Something came up, I cannot go with you today," he lied.

Temari placed both her hands on her hips. "Oh really? What is it? I will help you," she said seriously.

Gaara was silent as he desperately tried to think of something that she wouldn't be able to help him with. "… I… uh…"

"You're a terrible liar for being a ninja, Gaara," Temari said. "You're not getting out of this, if you hate it so much, then just do what I tell you at the store and it will be done with quickly."

"Why does Kankuro get to stay behind?" Gaara tried.

"Don't drag me down with you, Gaara!" he called from the other room.

"Because he needs to work and he already has enough clothes," Temari said. "Just come on!" With that she pulled on Gaara's sash and dragged him out the door. He considered using his sand to escape, but didn't for the risk of hurting her.

They entered a brightly lit shop where the walls were covered in various ninja attire and armor. Temari went straight up to the desk where there were currently no customers. "We would like to be fitted for new clothes," she told the woman.

The woman had short black hair tied back and bangs that framed her round face. As she wrote something down, Temari took a quick glace at the other customers and noticed that they were all looking their way. Typical of them whenever Gaara was around. While there hasn't been any incidents involving him lately, people were still very much on edge to see him at all. Temari inwardly sighed and wondered when everyone else would notice that her brother had changed.

"Alright, I am Rin, please follow me right this way to get your measurements and pick out some materials," the woman said with a smile.

After that was finished, they were told their sizes and measurements so they knew what to look for. Temari kept an eye out for anything she thought would be good for Gaara as she picked up a bunch of stuff to try on. He simply wandered about, not really looking at much. Temari brought him some different mesh and armor and a few materials.

"How about the blue one?" she asked him. Gaara just shrugged. "Okay, not the blue, how about beige?"

"Sand," Gaara said.

"You're right, looks like sand, you've got enough of that," Temari said and put it back. "What about this one?" she asked and showed him the reddish color. He looked at it and even touched it before finally nodding. "Great!"

Gaara watched as she took it back to Rin and she took out a book with styles to choose from. "What style does he want?" she asked.

Temari gestured for Gaara to look and he wasn't really impressed with anything. "Something like what I already have," he said.

Temari sighed and flipped through the book, "How about this one?" she pointed to a sleeveless outfit.

He shook his head, "I want sleeves."

Rin flipped to the next page, "Here is a similar style with sleeves, but it has an upright collar, is that something you're interested in, if not I can give it a different neckline?" she offered.

"That is fine," he said.

Now it was Temari's turn to pick out what she wanted. She had a harder time choosing as the women's attire seemed to have more choices. It took her nearly twenty minutes just to pick out what design she wanted. By then Gaara was leaning against the nearby wall wishing time would pass faster through this little trip.

The pieces of their orders were put together right there and they had to put them on in the changing rooms and make sure they fit correctly and then get adjustments done. Temari got some adjustments done, her top became lower, and her skirt became higher.

Gaara was ready to leave, he got his clothes so he was done, but Temari was still picking out accessories. While he was waiting, he noticed a couple girls in the shop that kept looking at him. Typical, Genin are always afraid of him. Not that he blamed them, they had every right to fear his power.

Then he heard them giggle. Now that confused him. People don't normally laugh or even smile around him. He looked towards them again and they turned away and giggled again. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, it must be one of those girl things that he'll never understand. If he can't understand his own sister, there was no way he expected to understand other girls.

The girl with white hair in a ponytail and red clothing looked at him and smiled. Gaara wondered what they were plotting. "Hi there," she said.

He didn't say anything since it didn't occur to him that she was talking to him. Then the other girl, one with brown hair in a bun and black and white clothing did it too. "Hello, what's your name?"

"Huh?" he finally said. The girls laughed again before approaching him.

"I'm Aiko, a Genin," the white hair girl said, gesturing herself, "And this is Sakumo," Aiko added, gesturing her friend.

"Also a Genin," Sakumo said.

"Gaara, also Genin," he said.

"Oh? How come I haven't seen you around before?" Aiko asked.

"I was trained privately," he answered.

"Oh I remember who you are!" Sakumo smiled, "He's the late Kazekage's son, they say he's so powerful, to battle him would be like taking on a desert sandstorm in the middle of the night."

"Is it true?" Aiko asked him.

"I wouldn't put it that way…"

"He's defeated whole platoons without receiving a single scratch," Sakumo added.

"Amazing!" Aiko grinned. "I hope we go on a mission together sometime, it'll be a cinch with you around."

"You're not afraid of me?" Gaara asked, still stuck on the thought that they are actually talking to him and standing within three feet of him.

"What?" they asked.

"Never mind, so how many mission have you been on?" he asked.

"Only twenty since I became a Genin, but I'm moving up the mission ranks quickly, I've done two B ranks and Sakumo even did an A rank because she's a medic," Aiko boasted.

"Then you are likely to go on a mission with me in the future," he said and they smiled.

"Great!" they cheered.

"We have to go, but I look forward to seeing you again!" Aiko said before she and Sakumo went to the checkout counter to buy their gloves.

"Bye Gaara-kun!" they waved before they left.

Temari saw most of what happened and smiled to herself. The younger generation hasn't seen him do anything so some of them obviously don't think he's a real threat towards them. Which they're right, but the adults might still be trying to convince them otherwise.

"Gaara, shouldn't you get some shoes while you're here?" she asked.

Gaara sighed and looked down at his shoes. One of them was taped together and the other one was also coming apart. "Fine…" he muttered and went to the shoes.

He didn't even realize that he had gone up a size, turned out this part was something he actually needed. After getting the shoes he wanted, he also got some more gauze, and now he was done.

Now if Temari would ever finish. She was acting like she could be here forever.

~~~ Later ~~~

"So Temari took forever didn't she?" Kankuro asked.

"Yes," Gaara stated bluntly.

"Please, it wasn't that long!" Temari complained. Her brother just looked at her. "Fine, so I got distracted a couple times, it's not like you will have to go again for a while."

"I never want to do that again…" Gaara muttered, "It's a waste of time…"

"How about you go with me next time?" Kankuro offered, but Gaara just shrugged. "Still, I think having a less threatening look will help you."

"What about in battle?" Gaara asked.

"Even better, an opponent that doesn't look threatening can take someone by surprise," Kankuro said.

"True…" Gaara said.

"You know Gaara," Temari started, "You're going to be growing pretty fast, you'll have to go shopping again really soon," she said.

Gaara's shoulders dropped, "…Do I have to?"

"Yes," both Kankuro and Temari said.

Gaara just glared and walked away. Temari and Kankuro laughed softly until they heard his door slam shut. Then they broke out into full blown laughter.

What a day.

* * *

_So this wasn't very long, but an update is better than no update! I hope you enjoyed this! _

_Let me know what you thought._


	6. Episode 4: Return to Konoha

_The Sand Siblings return to Konoha after helping in the fight against The Sound Five. They are not just there to see if their allies will be okay, but also to study the village, to study the school system. _

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Episode 4: Return to Konoha**

(After the Sound Five Arc of the anime series)

It seemed that this was the most difficult and life threatening mission that they had ever faced. Those leaf losers. They must have it really good in the Hidden Leaf Village to have made it this far without facing death at least a dozen times by now.

But those leaf losers did it this time anyway, to save just one comrade, a friend. They failed their mission. A few barely survived in the end against The Sound Five. It would have been a lot worse if the Sand Siblings hadn't arrived.

When they got the message back in the Sand Village, they were a bit surprised that they were requested to help. It did make more sense to dispatch Sand ninja, because they were closer and would be able to get there sooner. Even the Leaf's Jonin Kakashi and the Toad Sage didn't get there in time to help in the battles.

But in the end, everyone survived.

Gaara remembered clearly how close even he came to death. The way that bone spike came mere centimeters from his eyes before halting. In a way, the experience was exhilarating. He thought he should have died, he even told Rock Lee so. But of course, Lee said otherwise. It was interesting seeing everyone again, especially him, since he can still remember what he felt when he was bent on making sure the leaf Genin didn't live. Of course, he felt no such thing now. As long as he made up for what he had done to him in Lee's eyes, then he was satisfied.

Gaara had stopped before entering the Leaf Village. It wasn't that long ago that he had last gone through those gates. But this time he stepped through them as a different person. A better one. He actually kind of likes the Leaf Village now, except for the lack of extra loose sand. The people seemed happier here, the Genin were having fun, and there just wasn't that look he got from people in the Sand Village. Sure, there was look the still one that was given to an outsider, but he'd take that one over the that of a monster any day.

Gaara hoped he could speak with Naruto when he recovers. He thought he should at least say something to him, maybe just a thank you would be enough. Or maybe it would be best if he didn't talk to him at all. Whatever happens, happens.

After everything had calmed down and it was confirmed that everything would be alright, Gaara was left to himself in the village while his siblings were doing other things. Temari had said something about Shikamaru so she was going to see him… again. Kankuro mentioned food so he left for a while too. Gaara wasn't sure what he should do, so he just sat by the window of their hotel. The window was opened, letting in some fresh air, and he remembered that this village doesn't have sand coming in through open windows and 'making a mess'.

He had probably sat there enjoying the silence for a couple hours before his siblings returned together, and with a stack of papers. "What is this?" Gaara asked as he glanced at the papers they were holding.

"A mission," Kankuro grinned, "Nothing big, just some research, we got permission from Lady Tsunade."

"Very well," Gaara began. "What of?"

"The academy here," Temari smirked.

"The… academy?" Gaara repeated, not liking where this was going.

Kankuro handed Gaara a copy of the mission assignment, "This village has been in a better state than our village since their ninja are surviving more and they're also getting lots of missions, we just have to study the school and see if there's anything we can take back with us to help out the Sand," he explained.

"Do they not have reports on the system that we can just read?" Gaara asked.

"They do…" Temari said. "But since we're here, we might as well observe."

Gaara nodded once in understanding. He got why it would be helpful and all, he just didn't want to get stuck doing it. He's not exactly trained to be around children. Murder them, yes, but be around them, no.

"So classes start Mondays as usual, be ready to go tomorrow morning," Temari said and Gaara nodded again.

"Wait, one more thing," Kankuro said while looking at his sister.

"Oh yeah," she said as she remembered. "Gaara, you're getting social training too," she said.

"…What?"

"It's so you can behave properly around people, like recon missions and gathering information in public places and blend in, you're not just a weapon, you have to be able to do more than fight to be a successful ninja," Kankuro said.

"…But… I…" Gaara tried to think of a way to get out of this quickly, but failed.

"Lessons start now little brother," Temari said and Gaara took a step back. "Don't worry, we won't make you go outside and tell you to try to talk to people yet, let's start with simple role play right here in the hotel room."

"I'll start," Kankuro said. "A girl is watching you from across the room, how can you tell if she's suspicious?"

"Threaten her life for information and then-"

"Wrong!" Kankuro interrupted. "Correct answer, approach her naturally and talk to her nicely, maybe even flirt," he said.

"But-"

"Wrong!" Kankuro interrupted again. "If it's a man, then you get them outside or into another room, and then threaten his life for information, but only after you have confirmed that they are suspicious by talking to them first."

"But that would take too long-"

"Wrong!"

"It's what I've always done!" Gaara raised his voice, already irritated.

"This is to get information, not an assassination," Kankuro tried and then turned to Temari. "Temari, you said he'd be able to flirt out info by the end of the day, we'll be lucky if he understands the basics of a hello."

Gaara and Kankuro glared at each other while Temari sighed at her younger brothers. "Fine, we can work on hello and introductions," Temari started. The three worked for an hour on that. Gaara was not doing well at all, and not showing signs of improvement either.

Finally they all got frustrated with each other and went separate ways and gave each other space. Temari left again and Kankuro began making a bunch of noise in the hotel that irritated the red-head in his foul mood. Several little things that added up and could drive one like him nuts. It was time to get out of this hotel anyway, so Gaara left to find someplace more quiet to relax and think.

He found a peaceful place in a tree by the canal. The breeze was cool and the air was crisp, so he might as well enjoy it while it lasts, it isn't like this in the Sand Village. But soon he heard some voices nearby and curiosity got the best of him so he looked to see who was there.

"Are you going to check on Naurto, Sakura?" Ino asked.

"Yes, as well as the others," Sakura answered. "Have you seen Choji yet?"

"Oh yeah, I just saw him," Ino said, "He's looking really thin, actually he's of normal size right now, but if I know him, he's going to be eating constantly and gain all that weight back in no time."

"At least he'll be getting better," Sakura said and then looked up at Gaara in the tree, as if knowing he was there. "Hey there," she said with a wave. He was slightly shocked that she noticed him, but more shocked that she acknowledged him.

"Huh?" Ino said and looked up as well. "Hey, isn't that…?"

"That's Gaara, Lee told me all about how he helped him in the fight," Sakura said. "Aren't you going to come down?" she asked him.

Gaara thought about what he should do, to the girls he simply appeared to be acting bashful, but he soon jumped down. "Good afternoon," he said formally.

"Hello, I hope I didn't disturb you," Sakura said. Gaara simply shook his head, having nothing to say come to mind. "Thank you for your help in the battles, I'm really glad you were able to make it time," she said.

"It was nothing," he said.

"It can't be something you do everyday to make it 'nothing'," she laughed softly. Gaara tilted his head to the side slightly in confusion. Was that a joke? Was she mocking him? He didn't understand. "Anyway, Naruto isn't going to be out of the hospital for awhile, but if you want to see Lee again, he'll be around," she told him.

Gaara simply nodded again in understanding and Ino had to voice her thoughts, "You sure don't talk much, do you?" she said lightheartedly. He was confused again, he had said two whole sentences already, and he thought that it was more than normal. Though, maybe she knew how awkward this was for him? "Really, it's okay, it just reminded me of someone else," Ino added.

Sakura looked down for a brief second as her face fell to a frown. Even Gaara could tell that she was saddened by something. He wondered if it was his fault. He hoped not. Sakura looked back up with a small smile, "I ran into Temari a few minutes ago, are you really going to help out in the academy?" she asked.

"I guess so," he answered with a slight nod.

"I think it's great, I'm sure skilled fighters such as you and your siblings can offer a lot to the students," Sakura said. Gaara was even more confused now. Sakura was making it sound like that he was going to be doing more than just observing. "Oh right, I have to be somewhere, but I'm sure I'll see you around," Sakura said. "Later."

She and Ino both waved and continued on their way, leaving Gaara in his confusion. But then he thought of something else. Girls just engaged him in idle conversation. That keeps happening and he doesn't understand why, they should still fear him, but they won't stop talking to him. Then he remembered the thing about the academy again, and knew that he would have to face it. His sister tricked him into going to school. While it may be to study the system, it was to teach and learn as well. He was sure he was doomed.

The very next day, the sand siblings were at the academy. If Gaara was able to sleep, he wouldn't have last night in dread of today. There were brats everywhere.

"Sure are a lot of brats here," Kankuro commented as the trio waited outside.

"Shut it for once," Temari growled. Gaara silently agreed with both of them.

The class they were going to watch had lessons outside today in the courtyard, so they were asked to wait there for the class to arrive and the lesson to begin. It wasn't very long after classes actually started when the students showed up. Iruka quickly introduced the visitors from the Sand while the children stared at them in wonder and amazement. One student in particular recognized them, but had heard also Naruto's story of the trio, and prided himself for already knowing the super cool visitors from The Sand.

"They are going to be helping the class today, so be sure to show them the same respect you give me," Iruka said.

"Yes sensei!" the class said together.

The class was then split up into three groups and assigned to each of the sand ninja. They were instructed to ask questions and then demonstrate some jutsu to receive pointers and feed back from the guest instructors.

Gaara could hardly believe this was happening to him. He would have been okay if he was told to just watch, but actually interacting with children was not something he exactly had any experience with. He did get a smaller group to look after than his siblings, two groups of three, while the others got nine students each. Gaara noticed that his siblings were able to do this seemingly quite naturally, ready to answer questions and teach.

Meanwhile, Gaara just stood there, while the six sets of innocent eyes stared at him, expecting something. Gaara looked at the other two groups, the children were raising their hands and asking questions. That seemed to be the best place to start.

"Questions?" Gaara started.

A boy with a spiky brown hair, goggles, and a long blue scarf shot his hand up first, so Gaara nodded to him to speak.

"Are you going to tell everyone your name?" he asked.

Gaara felt stupid already, he didn't even think about introducing himself or of learning their names. Maybe this was why Temari was trying so hard to tell him that yesterday. "I am Gaara, I would like to know each of your names as well."

The blue scarf boy grinned, "I am Konohamaru!"

Gaara simply nodded, placing the name and face into his memory before looking at the girl sitting on the ground next to him.

"I'm Moegi, nice to meet you Gaara-sensei," she smiled and he nodded again and look to the next one.

"My name is Udon, sir," the boy with the glasses said.

The next three were Tai who had black hair that completely covered his eyes, Ryoku had short brown hair and narrow eyes, and Ayame was a girl with black ponytail and yellow coveralls.

Now that introductions were out of the way, what was he supposed to do now? Gaara looked towards the other groups, Kankuro seemed to be telling a story and Temari was answering another question.

"Gaara-sensei," Moegi said as she raised her hand, getting his attention back to them. "I have a question."

"Alright," he said.

"Why do you have a tattoo on your forehead?" she asked and the other students look at him with great interest, showing that they were wondering the same thing.

Gaara sighed slightly before answering, "It's a scar, next question?"

Ayame raised her hand. "How did you get it?"

"It was cut into my forehead and stained with my blood at the end of a battle long ago," he said. The children looked at him in awe and amazement instead of worry and fear like Gaara was expecting. These Leaf children sure are strange.

Udon and Moegi raised their hands.

"No more questions about the scar," Gaara said, and they both put their hands back down. Gaara sighed again. The impulse to try to bash his head against a wall or something seemed so tempting as each minute progressed. Too bad the sand won't let him do that.

"If there are no other questions, then it would be time to move on," Gaara said.

Tai raised his hand, and Gaara nodded for him to speak. "What kind of jutsu do you use?" he asked.

"I use sand in many of my jutsu, which is a combination of earth and wind type techniques," he answered.

Ryoku asked the next question after raising his hand. "Do all Sand Ninja use sand jutsu?" he asked.

"No, I am the only shinobi that can use sand," Gaara said. "It makes me a formidable opponent."

"Is it a kikee genkee?" Ryoku followed up.

"Kekkei genkai," he corrected. "And sort of, you may call it that if you wish," Gaara said. Since he was sure they would want to know too much about where exactly his abilities come from, he thought it would be best to avoid anymore questions. "It is time for training," he said. The other groups were starting as well.

The students seemed to be doing just fine, for their age that is. Gaara wasn't so sure what he was supposed to be doing. So he just observed, and didn't say anything other then to give the go ahead for the next student to demonstrate their best jutsu they know.

"I learned this one from Naruto!" Konohamaru declared.

"The shadow clone?" Gaara guessed, his interest perked slightly.

Konohamaru grinned and his little friends snickered as he made the hand sign for the Sexy Jutsu. Gaara did not react as most men did with a nosebleed and fainting spell, but his eyes did widen slightly in surprise. He certainly wasn't expecting the little boy to transform into a near naked lady. He found it rather disturbing.

"Right, so was that everyone?" Gaara continued. The kids nodded so Gaara looked towards his sibling's groups. They were showing some of their own jutsu, in their most reserved forms so they could not cause any harm in the close proximity. "I supposed it's time I demonstrate something…" Gaara said.

"The sand?" Ayame asked while tugging slightly at the straps of her yellow overalls in shyness.

"Yes," Gaara nodded. The gourd on his back released as he let out some sand and moved it around. "It can move quickly," he said and made it shoot to his other side and in a circle in the air above the children. "It can harden into a shield," he said and turned it into a shield shape for effect. "It can take on any form," he then made a sand clone of himself. "And become an actual weapon," the sand turned into kunai, shuriken, swords, and spears before he let it crumble and disappear. "Then vanish without a trace."

"Whoa…" the students gawked, obviously impressed with the mini-show of abilities and thinking he was the coolest ever.

"What's your favorite jutsu?" Udon asked.

Gaara took a moment to think. He first thought of the sand burial, for its ability to consume people as he murdered them, but wasn't really into murder anymore. "I suppose I like this one," he said and created a sand eye in his hand before letting it float there. "It allows me to see elsewhere," he explained.

"If I had a jutsu like that, I could collect enough research to finally surpass Naruto's sexy jutsu," Konohamaru laughed, while Moegi glared at him. Gaara was not really sure what exactly the boy was insinuating, but based on the looks his little friends were giving him, it was obvious something stupid.

Iruka called the children back to the classroom, and thanked the sand ninja for coming today. "I'm sure the students look forward to your visit tomorrow," he said and bowed slightly before leaving to tend to his class.

Temari and Kankuro smiled and waved while Gaara openly glared at his siblings. As they left the school grounds, Gaara continued to pout and brood. "What's wrong, Gaara?" Temari asked.

"…We're going back," he said. His way of saying 'I don't wanna go to school tomorrow'.

"Well yeah, the research will take more than just one class period," Kankuro said.

"It won't be that bad Gaara, besides it looked like those kids really liked you," Temari added.

"Yeah, everything looked normal, you looked normal," Kankuro said with a smirk.

"Me? Normal?" Gaara repeated as he thought about it. "Really?"

Both Temari and Kankuro nodded. Gaara pondered the necessity of social interactions to be normal.

The next day went much like the first, only they were there much longer. This time Gaara had thought of things that his group of students could do and learn from. That mostly consisted of him becoming a human target and letting the sand catch the kunai and shuriken, no matter where they went, before making the sand take the weapons back to them so they could try again. Once the kids were tired, he let them play with the sand, before making a sand obstacle course that they thought of as a playground. While the students were jumping over and around stuff, climbing and crawling, Gaara stood nearby and kept an eye on them and making sure the sand would soften if any fell so they wouldn't get hurt.

The day after that, they stayed in the classroom. Gaara found the books to be very interesting. He didn't know much about Konoha's history, besides the basics, but he actually liked reading further into it. He saw a picture of the forth Hokage and was reminded greatly of Naruto and pondering whether they were related, as the resemblance seemed likely.

"Gaara-sensei," Ayame started to get his attention from the history book. "Was your academy like this?"

"I did not go to an academy," he said.

"What?" His group seemed confused.

"I was home schooled and trained privately," he said.

"What is that like?" Udon asked.

Gaara was about to answer when Konohamaru jumped up, "I was too!" he said. "But it was only for a little while because I wanted to come here instead."

"It was efficient," Gaara answered. Of course Gaara was not going to answer truthfully, if he had done that, it would be that it reminded him everyday how he could not be around other children and that continued to add to his pain and loneliness over the years.

"It's boring!" Konohamaru added.

When school ended that day, the sibling were giving each another job. Kankuro got to entertain the children staying after school for extra studies, he seemed to have fun with hand puppets and other toys as he played with them. Temari helped little groups at a time on their work. Gaara on the other hand, got to keep an eye on the detention. He simply stood at the front of the room and stared emotionless beyond the students that were forced to give up their time for their misbehavior. The room was dead silent. Even a sneeze or a cough would cause Gaara to look their way and the student would shrink back in their seat, afraid of what the sand ninja might do. The treatment felt much more like an interrogation. This had been Gaara's favorite part of his whole ordeal.

That night, the siblings put together as much information as they could about the academy. They did get to observe the class, and they got to talk to the teachers. Overall, they thought they had a pretty good idea about what to change back home.

"Hey Gaara," Kankuro started. "You seemed to be talking much easier to them now."

Gaara shrugged, "It has been unavoidable."

"But you're learning a lot," Temari added from her place across the low table they had been working over. Gaara remained silent.

"Those kids seemed to like you, and they don't mind being around you at all," Kankuro added.

"They are just kids that do not know any better," Gaara said, but his siblings laughed.

"I'd say that's a good thing," Temari said. "Besides, it was the old that influenced the young that didn't know anything about you back home, this proves that can be changed."

"Yeah, you have the three kids we met with Naruto and Sasuke the first day we came to this village for the chunin exams and to destroy it, they seemed to forgive and forget all that already," Kankuro added.

Gaara thought that only the forget part was accurate. He didn't care if people liked him, at this point he just wanted to earn respect as a ninja. At this point he was just glad to be done with the academy. The students were sad to see them go, but the task was done and they had to return to the Sand soon. Gaara wouldn't dare admit, but he really did learn a lot about how to be around people, kids specifically. It was knowledge that we would continue to use.

* * *

_Gaara's learning something new everyday it seems. _

_What is going to happen once he returns home? Vacation time maybe? Doubt it. A ninja's work is never done._


	7. Episode 5: Friends and Rivals

_Gaara goes on a mission with another team. Will they work together to complete the mission? Will rivalry prevent a safe return home?_

* * *

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**

**Episode 5: Friends and Rivals**

Gaara sat in the window of his sister's hospital room and watched people outside. Temari was injured on her last mission. Nothing too severe, but it would be another day or so before she could leave and get back to work. Kankuro had yet to hear about this because he was still on different a mission and wouldn't be back for a few more days.

As far as Gaara knew, there was nothing for him to do as long as his siblings weren't able to go on missions with him. Though there seemed to be a shortage of assassination missions and rescuing of Leaf allies lately. As long as he doesn't have to sit in a classroom with a bunch of kids asking him questions, he didn't mind having this little time off to do nothing.

Yes, nothing was boring. He considered ordering a meaty pizza since it's just him at home. That seemed like something he could enjoy. Maybe he'd see what's on TV too tonight before meditating in peace. If he really felt like a party animal he'd have some spicy tea and read a magazine instead of a informational tome or scroll.

"Gaara," Temari started to get his attention. "You can go home, I'm fine here by myself," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah, get out of here, you could be training or doing something else," she laughed.

"I suppose you are right," he said. He forgot about training, not like there's anything new for him to learn. Without Baki, there was even less for him to do concerning training, but like Kankuro, Baki was also on another mission.

So when Gaara got home he ordered his pizza and it was delivered soon after. While he had waited for that, he changed into a regular black t-shirt with a red circle printed on the left side and some loose reddish-brown pants. When he was eating he looked through one of Temari's teen girl magazines that was sitting on the table in the living room.

Today's Capricorn horoscope was: By reaching for courage, you'll find the strength to break out of your shell and try out a new social situation. Practice that winning smile in the mirror and trust to your keen observation to keep you in the right.

Kankuro was right, horoscopes were a bunch on nonsense. Though the older boy also said it was important to know about them because of girls. Gaara still didn't quite understand what his brother was suggesting by this. He had an assumption, but how horoscopes connected to breeding, he was completely lost.

Early the next morning, Gaara received a mission summons and reported to the Kazekage building as requested. When he got there, he was told to wait for his team. Gaara was confused by this, because his team was not available yet.

"My team is not available right now," Gaara said.

"I know," the man said. "You are to be on another team for now, Temari thought you could use more varied experience."

Gaara said nothing as he waited. Being so early in the morning, the others probably had to be woken up and given the chance to get ready before coming in for duty.

The first to arrive was a boy the same age as him with black hair that hung over the sides of his face and covered his forehead. He kind of resembled Sasuke that way, but his hair was longer in the back and remained flat instead of spiking upward. His eyes were gray and his skin was also darker than Sasuke's, or Gaara's for that matter, the boy had obviously spent a lot of time in the desert sun. He wore black gloves, a long-sleeved dark brown shirt, and black pants that didn't reach his ankles and his legs were wrapped in gauze. His Sand Village headband was tied to his right arm and he carried a staff on his back along with a pack.

"You have arrived, Senku," the advisor said. "There is one more."

Then the third member of the makeshift team arrived. She was also his age and had very pale skin and red eyes. Her long hair was also white, which was tied back into a high ponytail while her long bangs framed the sides of her face. Wearing a somewhat long black short-sleeved coat left opened, she was also wearing a dark red mid-length zip-up top, but another mesh layer covered the skin of her torso before reaching her matching red skirt with dark blue shorts underneath. She also had dark blue fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows, and her Sand Village headband was displayed proudly on her forehead.

"Now that Aiko has arrived, I can inform you of the mission," the advisor started.

Soon after, the team was making their way to leave the village to start their mission. It was no assassination mission, but simply transporting a small box to some lord. Gaara thought it was odd to be put on such a simple C-rank mission. It shouldn't matter if his siblings are there or not.

Aiko had the box in her possession in a sack from her shoulder. She tried to talk to each of the boys, but both seemed to be rather quiet. "Great, the antisocial type," she groaned as she put her hands behind her head. "This mission is going to be boring," she sighed.

"Boring is just fine for me," Senku said. "Better than dangerous," he added as he shot Gaara a look. Gaara noticed, but did not acknowledge it. Aiko also noticed but didn't think much of it yet.

The mission was supposed to be mostly safe, the only warnings they received were to look out for bandits and deserted traps in the area they were going to pass through. There was no set time limit or schedule they had to keep for this mission, so when they left the village, they only went at a medium pace over the desert. As Gaara ran, he decided that he agreed with Aiko's earlier statement, this really was going to be boring. Though he also had to agree with Senku's earlier statement as well, boring wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially on a mission with a team he knows nothing about. Still, he was just starting to like the thought of having a few days off.

The makeshift team didn't speak again until they began to set up camp that night just before the sun went down. They got over the desert in a fair amount of time due to good conditions. It was warm enough that they didn't really need a campfire for the camp spot, but Senku did put down a lantern to provide a nice low amount of heat as well as light.

"I can take first watch," Senku said after putting down his bag.

"That is not necessary," Gaara said, "I will take the entire nightshift."

Senku glared slightly at the red-head. '_I hate cocky authoritative attitudes from people that don't even outrank me_,' he thought.

Gaara glared back, mostly on reflex.

Aiko looked back up and noticed the tension. "Hey guys, this is nothing to fight about, any of us could take the entire shift, Gaara was just the first to offer," she tried. "Look, tomorrow night, I could take the whole night watch shift and then Senku the next, so it'll be even."

"That is not necessary," Gaara repeated, "I always cover the entire shift, as long as I am here, you will receive a full night's rest each night."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Aiko asked. "You shouldn't go without sleep, that's unhealthy."

"I can handle it," Gaara said before walking away.

When Gaara finished walking the perimeter, he returned to the others still eating. "Are you going to eat?" Aiko asked.

"Later," Gaara said. He can actually go much longer, even though there was no need to do that on this mission. Temari would yell at him if she found out he it this time.

"Are you sure?" Aiko asked.

"Yes," he answered before sitting down.

"Gaara, do you remember that we have met before?" she asked after awhile. "At the ninja attire and armor shop not too long ago?"

"I do," he nodded, "I believe I said that we might end up on a mission together in the future," he added.

"You do remember!" Aiko smiled widely. "And you were right, because here we are."

"While on this mission, it would be valuable to know about your skill set in case of battle," he said.

"Oh, well I'm a water type and I specialize in using weapons, mostly kunai," Aiko said. "What about you?" she asked him.

This question made Gaara aware that she did not have much knowledge about him other than his power and his family. "I use sand."

"Just sand?" Aiko asked.

"…Yes," Gaara said.

Aiko shrugged and looked at Senku for his answer. "Staff user," Senku said tapping his staff.

"Anything else?" Aiko pressed.

"Earth type and a little water type," he added, "I do mostly scouting and reconnaissance."

"Oh, I do mostly scouting, tracking, and whatever else," Aiko added. "What about you Gaara, what kinds of missions do you normally do?"

"Assassinations," he stated.

"Really? Then why are you on a simple mission like this one?" Aiko asked, though Senku continued to glare at him.

"My team is busy," he said and Aiko nodded.

"So this will be an easy paycheck for you," she smiled.

"We should rest now," Senku stated and laid down on his mat, facing away from the others.

"I guess he's right," Aiko sighed and sat back on her own mat. "If you get tired, wake me up and I'll take watch until morning, okay?"

"Fine," Gaara agreed, knowing that it wouldn't happen but figured it would be the best answer to make her rest already. Keeping watch all night in this area wouldn't be much different than staying at home alone.

Senku woke up first in the morning, as soon as the sun began to rise. He ran his hands through his long bangs to fix the part and push them back to the sides of his face. He noted that Aiko was still asleep but did not see Gaara right away. Gaara was several meters away just sitting on a rock as he watched the sunrise with his arms folded over his chest and a stern and thoughtful look.

Aiko woke moments later and sat up. She adjusted her ponytail and headband, then located her teammates around her before packing up. Senku followed her example and packed up too. It didn't take long until the two were done and ready to go after a snack and bathroom break.

"Remember to watch out for the traps that might be in the area, even if they do not manage to harm us, it might alert bandits or whatever else is out there to our presence," Senku warned.

The other two nodded before they leapt up to the trees.

Aiko continued to carry the package to be delivered as they traveled, careful to tree hop as smoothly as possible to not jostle it and whatever was inside. Senku had started going faster, staying ahead of the others. Aiko and Gaara caught up easily and kept Senku's pace until he started going even faster.

"H-hey!" Aiko yelled at him as she too went faster, the package getting jostled once as she propelled off a tree. She growled irritably at her teammate as she felt it and while wondering what Senku was in such a rush for.

Again Senku sped ahead as the others caught up. "What's his problem?" Aiko complained to the red-head.

Gaara looked at her as she continued to look forward irritably, focusing on going as fast as she could while remaining smooth in her movements. Then Gaara sped ahead as well, catching up with Senku.

"Aiko is carrying the package," Gaara reminded the dark-haired boy.

"Tsk, whatever," Senku muttered and sped ahead once again. Gaara went after him, hearing Aiko's complain fade behind them.

Somehow it turned into a race, each boy moving faster, not wanting to be shown up by the other one for some reason.

"Buzz off," Senku glared at Gaara.

"What are you trying to prove?" Gaara stated.

Senku glared again harder. "Tsk," he said and leapt ahead.

This continued until they reached their destination, each landing on solid ground at the same time. Senku crossed his arms and pointedly looked away as Gaara looked back towards the trees, wondering if Aiko wasn't far behind. It would be bad if something happened while she was alone, like bandits or an old still working trap.

They were not far from the gate of the village where they would complete their mission and a few minutes later, Aiko arrived, none to happy about what just happened. "Senku! What is your problem? Do you have a problem being on this team or what?"

"Whatever," he spat and started towards the village.

"Grah, so irritating!" Aiko grumbled before following.

It wasn't hard to find the Lord's house, it was the biggest in the village. There was only one guard at the gate, who led them inside. They met the lord briefly in his office as they dropped off the small box. The lord opened it and retrieved the vial of medicine that was held inside. After being thanked and dismissed, the team left.

They began heading out the village the same way they came in until Aiko stopped them. "Let's get something hot to eat there before we go," she suggested.

"Fine," Senku sighed as he followed her to a noodle bar.

"By the way, where are your teams right now?" Aiko asked. "Mine is doing some sort of special training to improve their abilities, so they've been away for the last few weeks," she said.

"Both of my former teammates died during the recent Chunin exam," Senku said, suddenly losing his appetite and began eating slower.

Gaara thought about how he was recommended to go to the most recent one, but he declined this time. He still didn't want to face it yet, not after the events of the one before that, where his village attacked Konoha. He briefly wondered if Naruto decided to go to this one too, but last Gaara heard, his team was still disassembled, each sensei and teammate were doing something different.

"Is that what happened?" Aiko looked at him thoughtfully, realizing that must be why he's so cranky all the time. "That must be hard."

"It was their own faults, they should have heeded my warnings," Senku said before sipping his tea.

Aiko looked taken aback by that, this guy was making it hard to feel sorry for him. Sighing, she looked over at the red-head on her other side. "How about your team?" she asked.

"Injury and mission," he answered.

"Still concise and to the point, huh?" she smirked, but he didn't say anything else.

After they left the village, they were about to start to the trees again before Aiko stopped them. "Alright, no more races, got it?" She placed her hands on her hips and looked firmly at them.

Senku crossed his arms, obviously making no promises. "Tsk," he started.

"'Whatever', yeah I got it," Aiko finished for him and rolled her eyes.

They each jumped to the trees and Senku didn't even humor her as he wasted no time in speeding off ahead.

"Grr, he's going to get himself killed too if he keeps going off by himself like that!" Aiko said.

"Should I go after him again?" Gaara asked, but he didn't think she should be left alone either. She was keeping his pace fine, but Gaara knew that after what she had to do with the package as she ran earlier, she would be more worn out than either of the other two.

"Just leave him!" Aiko huffed irritated.

It was only minutes later that they heard a rather loud bang up ahead. They shared a quick glace before each sped forward even faster to see what was going on and if it had something to do with Senku.

For some reason, Senku didn't take the exact same path back, which was proven to be safe already. Instead, the irritable teen was taking a slightly different path, right into some traps. The other two quickly found him and he didn't appear to be injured.

"Senku, are you okay?" Aiko asked. The trap that was set off wasn't that big, only four trees were damaged, so Senku was able to jump out of the way in time.

"I'm fine," he said angrily. This time his anger wasn't at either of his temporary teammates, but at himself. This was a very foolish mistake, setting off the traps like that.

"Fool," Gaara said and Senku glared at him. "You should heed your own warning."

That stung for Senku, and he removed the staff from his back and pointed it at the red-head. "What was that?" Senku demanded, "Monster," he added with disgust.

Gaara glared and Aiko gasped before jumping between the two and her red eyes flashed in warning. "Senku!" she scolded. "What are you doing? We're all on the same team here and we have all but completed our mission."

"How stupid are you? Do you have any idea who HE is?" Senku asked lowly.

Aiko rolled her eyes. "How stupid are you?" she retorted in a mocking tone. "Of course I do, I found out shortly after I met him in person, it's hard to live in Suna and not hear about him. I have been trying to be nice and cooperative with both of you, but you… have you even SEEN him do anything out of the ordinary to deserve treating him like you have?"

Senku frowned and looked away.

"That's what I thought," Aiko muttered before turning back to the red-head, hoping that he wasn't offended by her jumping in and defending him like that. She noticed the sand pouring from the gourd on his back. "What are you doing?" she asked, worried that he had been angered by either her or Senku, or even both.

"Do you want to fight me?" Senku held out his staff again.

"Fighting me is a death wish," Gaara warned.

"I don't have a problem with that," Senku muttered.

Aiko was stepping out of the way, knowing that standing between the two was not going to be a good idea if they were set on fighting. She wished that this could have been avoided, but it looks like the worst has happened. Someone was going to die on this mission, and it was not likely to be Gaara, she knew that much about him.

Sand flew all around them in a flash. Senku readied his staff for the sand users first attack, but the sounds of paper bombs next disoriented him. Gaara had no such thing on him and Aiko was alerted to sounds as well. The sand moved as if it was a living entity as Gaara stood motionless with his arms folded over his chest in his typical battle stance.

Both Senku and Aiko realized that they were not alone. Kunai with paper bombs were being thrown and at them, but the sand whipped around, protecting all of them from the blasts.

"…Bandits," Senku muttered. He felt like such a fool. Gaara was right after all. If he had simply heeded his own warning…

Aiko and Senku didn't really have to do anything, the sand took care of it all. The bandits were located and stopped. Gaara didn't kill them, but he threw them far away, they surely would have some broken bones if they landed on anything wrong. It was over as quickly as it had began, just like that.

"If those bandits didn't think we were fighting amongst ourselves, they would have kept following us, and attacked at a more vulnerable moment," Gaara said. "We must leave now before more appear," he added.

Aiko nodded and jumped up to the trees nearby, but Senku stood there slacked jawed. Gaara looked at the other boy, waiting to see if he would get a move on. Senku dropped his staff before he fell to the ground himself, just sitting there where he supported his elbows on his knees and held the sides of his head.

Aiko watched with concern before Gaara approached Senku. "Do not worry about it," Gaara said.

Senku looked up to find him offering his hand. "…But…"

"Comrades fight all the time, it is okay," he said.

Senku took the offered hand as Gaara helped him up. "You were right, I should heed my own advice… I'm not always like this," Senku said. "I didn't even notice them…" he admitted.

Gaara nodded, he already knew that. Since things looked like they were okay now and Senku's head was level again, they jumped up to trees with Aiko and took off.

"Hey, Gaara," Senku said as they sped through the trees. Gaara looked to him questioningly. "Sorry about what I said, I know that's not true about you, I've known for awhile, a lot of us have," Senku said.

Gaara looked at him shocked and Senku chuckled slightly.

"Hey Gaara," he said with a cocky smirk. "Race back to the village? We tied earlier," he said.

Gaara blinked a couple times before smirking himself. "I accept your challenge," he said.

They both focused their attention forward, and each leapt off with greater speed and right pass Aiko who was originally leading.

"H-hey!" she called after them before she too sped up to keep up with them. Not this again, but at least this time their race was obviously for fun. Guess rivals just do things like that. Aiko laughed and shook her head. "Boys," she muttered as she rolled her eyes.

* * *

_Gaara went on a mission with another team. Unknowingly befriending the kunoichi Aiko, and earned a rival, Senku._


	8. Episode 6: Girls Are Crazy

**Adventures of the Sand Siblings!**  
**Episode 6: Girls Are Crazy**

_After saving his village from a near difficult situation and gaining a little bit of respect, Temari decides it's time for Gaara to learn some things about girls. Will his siblings be enough to give him the talk with enough valid information that he will understand? And why are those girls chasing and stalking him? _

Gaara snuck back home and sank into a chair. His gourd of sand dropped carelessly next to him. Something weird was going on. Everywhere he went, people kept trying to talk to him and offer him things. Those that didn't approach him would stare. This was a huge change from what he had experienced in the past, where people would either avoid looking at him entirely or simply sneer.

He knew this change was because he was gaining respect and proving himself. That element of fear was dissipating. So at first he didn't mind the first few people that would approach him and ask him about his latest heroic act of redirecting a sandstorm from the village. Then it got weird when they began offering him things. Like small gifts of money or tickets for free meals at the restaurants they owned.

But that wasn't the weirdest part, no not at all. The weirdest part was the growing group of young teenaged girls that seemed to be spying on him. Though their 'spying' wasn't discreet at all. It was more like they were just following him around and whenever he would look back to see they were still there, several paces behind him, they would the most strangest thing of all. The girls would smile, giggle, say hello, or wave to him.

If it was his attention they wanted, they would get it for brief seconds at a time when he would acknowledge their efforts with a brief nod before turning forward again and continue walking. Though as soon as he would turn away, he could hear them talking and laughing. Were they making fun of him?

In the past Gaara would threaten anyone like that. But now, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about it. He thought of one acceptable thing, disappear and return home by transporting in sand. Was that considered running? Gaara didn't want to think of it like that, perhaps more of a necessary action to ward off crazy people. Yes, that was a better way of putting it.

Temari stepped in shortly and saw her youngest brother. "Wow, did your heroic act yesterday wear you out that badly? Do you need to see a medic?" she asked showing concern at his slumped exhausted figure.

"I am fine, I recovered from that a while ago."

"Well you look pretty drained, you sure you're okay?" When he had sensed the sandstorm, she remembered him looking rather concerned. He told her and Kankuro to take the message of an approaching sandstorm to the Kazekage building, where an alarm was sounded. Turned out it became unnecessary as Gaara was later found on the village walls. He alone was able to redirect the sandstorm up and over the village, instead of down into it. Preventing the storm from burying the village left people grateful, and they no longer had to worry about stopping everything to dig out their homes and businesses.

"…I am fine," Gaara answered. "I cannot say the same for the village girls though."

Temari was surprised by that statement. "The village girls? Is something wrong?"

"I have no idea…" Frankly, he had already figured out that women were a confusing species.

"What are they doing that makes you think something is wrong with them?" Temari was concerned that something might be amiss in the village.

"They were just following me today," he said. "It was strange."

She surprised him when she laughed. "Well Gaara, I think everything's okay, so don't worry about it, it's normal." Gaara looked at her confused. He wasn't worried, more like annoyed. "I'm going to let Kankuro know about this, just in case," Temari said and then she winked as she left him alone.

"What was that about?" Gaara wondered aloud to himself. Was Temari going crazy as well? Though she said the village girl's behavior was normal. Maybe it was one of those girl things Kankuro tried to warn him about?

Temari had gone to Kankuro's room and pounded on the door.

"What?" he called through.

"You going to let me in or what? We need to talk!"

"…Fine," he answered and was at the door within a few seconds. "What is it?" he asked.

Temari smirked at the thought of what she was about to say. Kankuro noticed her smirk and grew worried. "Seems our little brother is getting popular," she said.

Kankuro scratched his head and looked at his sister. "Um, so?"

"I mean with girls," Temari added.

Kankuro looked surprise. "Oh! Well I guess that's not really unusual, he's getting to that age and all. And with his various acts of heroism and whatnot, it was bound to happen."

"My thoughts exactly, so that means it's time."

"Time? You mean… time for… that?"

"That's right, Kankuro," Temari grinned somewhat evilly as she began to step away. For some reason the way she said it made him feel as though a curse was just placed upon him.

"Wait, what about you? Where are you going?" Kankuro asked.

"I have a mission, so it'll be just you boys for a couple days," she said.

"What? No fair! So I have to do it by myself?"

"That's right," Temari practically sang. "It's all up to you now, you know what you're supposed to do, good luck," she grinned and with that she was gone. Leaving Kankuro to mope briefly.

"Might as well just get it over with," Kankuro sighed before strolling away from his room.

Gaara was passing by the stairs, he saw Temari leaving. "Hey Gaara, I going on a mission for a couple days, take it easy for a while," she said as she passed him.

Gaara nodded and continue his trek to the kitchen to make a sandwich while Temari had quickly put on her shoes and was out the door.

Kankuro stepped into the kitchen and looked at his brother for second. Gaara was being overly generous with the meats he placed on the bread. Kankuro briefly thought that Gaara should just skip the bread and cheese if it's the meat he really wants.

"What?" Gaara looked up and locked eyes with his brother over the kitchen island.

"U-uh…" Kankuro had to think fast. How was he supposed to being up THAT topic casually to his little brother? He certainly wasn't just going to be blunt about it. "Nothin', just thinking about making a sandwich," he said.

"Go ahead," Gaara stated monotonously.

Kankuro nodded and stepped up to the island and took some bread. "So…" he started casually while Gaara kept his gaze down. "Temari's left for a mission, guess it's just you and me for a couple days."

Gaara's gaze shifted up to his brother, silently wondering why his brother was stating the obvious.

"Yep, so it's just you and me, me and my bro, my wingman, my ––"

"What are you getting at, Kankuro?" Gaara cut him off.

"Just, you know, since we're brothers and all, we could use his time for, like, brother stuff." Kankuro attempted to grin while Gaara just looked at him.

"Such as?"

Kankuro looked down at his partially made sandwich and slid the cheese closer to himself to begin cutting himself a couple slices. "Just talk," he stated simply.

Gaara remained where he was as he thought about it and took a bite of his sandwich. "What about?" he said after he swallowed the first bite.

Kankuro sighed inwardly. It was now or never. "What do you know about girls?" he asked while completing his own sandwich with the second slice of bread.

Gaara wasn't sure how to interpret what his brother was asking. Was his really a casual conversation, or had Temari mentioned Gaara's earlier problem? "What do you mean?"

Kankuro shifted, "Like… how girls are different?" Gaara was simply looking at him for a second before taking another bite of his sandwich and chewing slowing. Kankuro decided to try that more blunt approach he dismissed earlier. "Like are you aware of girl's bodies and how they are different compared to us guys, and, you know, all that stuff?"

"You mean to speak of the process of human coitus and its function to reproduction," Gaara stated without pause.

Kankuro's eyebrows raised high on his forehead for a few seconds. "…Coitus, well yeah, exactly actually. How much do you know about… coitus?" That was such a strange term to use. It made him wonder where Gaara had even learned it.

"I know enough," Gaara said.

Somehow, Kankuro really doubted that. This conversation was already showing how socially awkward Gaara really was. "Care to share something so I can tell how much you already know?"

Gaara sighed and began to summarize what he knew, "The process of human reproduction requires the reproductive cells of one male and one female of baring age and they must engage in coitus so the male's reproductive cells can reach the female's reproductive cell during ovulation in the female, and if implantation is successful, the female will carry a developing human fetus for about nine months until its birth, then she can carry again sometime after."

Kankuro blinked. That didn't sound casual at all. Where did Gaara even learn that?

"Of course my area of expertise is how to kill people, not how to make them," Gaara finished.

If there was ever a time Kankuro wanted to face palm, it was right now. Sure, Gaara was smart, but man could he be stupid. "How did you learn that?" he asked.

"I read it all. Mostly in my health and biology books."

" …Oh," Kankuro breathed. That explained it. He had probably only read about the raw facts, but never talked about it before. This actually explained a lot, in a weird way. Did his little brother just never think about that kind of stuff either? Gaara's thirteen, so Kankuro figured that he must have at some point by now.

Gaara finished off his sandwich before looking at his brother again. "Anything else you need to discuss now that my knowledge has been confirmed?"

Kankuro knew he couldn't just leave it at that. Temari would beat him half to death if he didn't give a real 'talk'. "So you know the biology of it, the physical workings, but did you know that all women are crazy?"

Gaara stared blankly "Crazy?" he repeated and Kankuro nodded. "All girls?" he asked and Kankuro nodded again. "Why?"

"I'm very glad you asked, young one," Kankuro started with an air of wisdom, while Gaara simply glared at the name. "You see, girls are crazy."

"You already said that," Gaara said with a slight roll of this eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Kankuro continued. "You see, girls are more complicated than us guys, it's never about what you said, it's how you say it, because even when you say the right thing, it can only make matters worse if you say in the wrong tone and then she'll get mad at you, and then she'll go tell all her friends that you were a jerk to her, so then they all hate you for no reason and it's up to you to figure it out!" Kankuro was speaking faster and faster through his story, obviously caught up in his own head.

"…What?" Gaara blinked. He didn't understand what his brother what going on about.

Kankuro laughed nervously. "Never mind that, let me ask you something else."

"Fine…"

"Are you even interested in girls?"

"What are you suggesting, Kankuro?" Gaara glared.

"Uh, nothing like that, not saying you only like guys or anything, well you can if you want to, whatever, it's up to you, but…" Kankuro laughed awkwardly, "I meant to say is there a girl you like, or a type of girl that catches your attention?" he tried.

There was a long pause before Gaara answered, "Yes."

This caught Kankuro by surprise and he blinked a couple time as he processed that information. It made him very curious. "So who is it, or what type of girl do you like?"

"None of your business," Gaara glared again.

Kankuro sighed. So much for that. "Fine, so let's say you like a girl and you want to get her attention, like ask her out or something, what do you do?" Gaara shrugged and did not respond. "Well, what would you do?"

"I don't want to get people's attention, it's avoiding attention that's an issue for me," Gaara said.

"Temari said you were getting popular," Kankuro grinned slyly while Gaara simply looked away. "Never had to deal with stalkers myself, but I think I see where you're coming from now."

"What would you do?" Gaara asked.

"To ask a girl out, or to repel stalkers?"

Gaara looked away again as a faint blush began to rise to his cheeks. "Both," he said.

Kankuro grinned, "Oh… now we're getting somewhere."

"Repel first, you seem to be very good at that," Gaara said, holding back a smirk.

"Ha-ha," Kankuro said sarcastically while glaring at his twit of a brother. Then Kankuro got serious as he thought about it. "Just look at them and bluntly tell them to leave you alone or that you're not interested, then if they continue, do what you do best and use that sand of yours, just try not to kill any villagers, okay?"

"You make it sound easy," Gaara said. "What if…" he trailed off.

"What now?"

"What if I don't know if I don't want them around, all of the girls that were following me today were ones I've never met before, is it okay to turn them away without knowing who they are?"

Kankuro nodded, understanding the question. Gaara didn't want to make people feel bad by hurting them on a personal level. "You may just have to wait it out then, and keep an eye out, you'll learn how to spot the good girls."

"Good girls?" Gaara repeated.

"Yeah, the nice ones that you actually like."

"Is Temari considered a good girl?"

"Hell no," Kankuro chuckled. "Maybe to someone out there she is, I don't see it though."

"Nara," Gaara stated.

"Oh yeah, forgot about him…" Kankuro grumbled. "Dunno how he managed to get our sister's attention, he must be some sort of chick magnet or something, didn't even have to try."

"He doesn't go out of his way to impress people, maybe there's a lesson from that, Kankuro," Gaara said.

Kankuro sighed. "Now you're giving me the whole 'just be yourself' speech, guess that means I should actually give it a try…"

Gaara didn't say anything as he moved back to the living room and returned to his seat that he had previously slumped into when he arrived home earlier. His brother soon joined him and plopped down on another seat.

They sat in silence for a minute when Kankuro suddenly jumped up. "Wait a minute!" he exclaimed, "I was supposed to be giving YOU advise, not the other way around!" He sobbed as a cloud of gloom and despair formed around him.

Gaara blinked. Then he blinked again, before sighing with a slight roll of his eyes. Maybe, something Kankuro could tell might be of use someday in a certain situation. "Maybe… you could tell me more…" Gaara had to struggle to keep his voice even as he could hardly believe he was about to humor Kankuro about something so ridiculous.

At least it made Kankuro stop sobbing. Not much is weirder than having to put up with a man sobbing for no reason. Though now the happy expression Kankuro was giving him was making Gaara regret his decision to say anything.

It took three hours. Three hours until Kankuro stopped talking about girls and dating and various annoyances. All of which Gaara cared little for. In fact, the more he listened, the more he though Kankuro had no idea what he's talking about and was just complaining.

"So uh, yeah, any questions?" Kankuro finally stopped and asked.

"Are you done?"

Kankuro let out a long sigh and dropped his head into his hands. "I don't know! I'm supposed to make sure you're informed on this stuff," he paused as finally looked back up to meet Gaara's stoic expression. "What do take from everything I've told you?"

"…That girls might actually be insane," Gaara answered.

"Good, that's exactly what I was getting at," Kankuro smiled.

"And so are you," Gaara added and his brother frowned.

"Oh ha-ha, you're _so_ funny…" Kankuro said sarcastically.

"I get a good one in occasionally," the red-head smirked.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Took long enough to post that, huh? My muse was lost too many times and I had to put this story down for a while. I don't know if I have another "episode" in me at the moment, so I'll leave this one-shot collection open for a while and see if another muse finds me.

Thank you for reading.


End file.
